The Abjad value of Ba (ب) is 2, the second letter of the Abjad. Ba is a moon letter with a single dot below, and it opens the Bismillah (بسم الله). It begins words of blessing and shelter such as Barakah (blessing), Bayt (house), and Bab (door).
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Diacritics | اعراب
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Values are arithmetic only, for study and reference. For full name analysis, open the full Abjad Calculator.
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Ba is the second letter of the Abjad and the letter that opens the Bismillah, the phrase a Muslim says before every act. Its value is just two, yet the tradition has written volumes about its single dot.
What Is the Arabic Letter Ba (ب)?
Ba is the second letter of the modern Arabic alphabet and the second letter in the Abjad order. It is a moon letter, a boat-shaped stroke that sits on the line with one dot beneath it.
Ba heads a family of letters that share the same base shape and differ only in their dots: ب (one dot below), ت (two above), ث (three above), ن (one above), and ي (two below).
- Abjad Position: 2nd, value 2
- Modern Alphabet Position: 2nd
- Type: a moon letter (huruf qamariyya)
- Origin: the Phoenician Beth, meaning “house”, ancestor of Hebrew Bet and Greek Beta
- Dots: a single dot below the letter
- Joining: connects on both sides, with four forms
- Opens: Bismillah, Barakah (blessing), Bayt (house), Bab (door)
What Is the Abjad Value of Ba?
In the Abjad system, also called Hisab al-Jummal, the Abjad value of Ba is 2. It sits directly after Alif (1) and never changes with the letter’s place in a word.
Ba keeps the value 2 in both main systems, since it is not one of the six letters that shift between Mashriqi and Maghribi. See the Abjad Calculation Rules, or total any word in the Abjad Calculator.
| System | Ba value | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Mashriqi (Eastern / Standard) | 2 | Used across the Arab world and South Asia |
| Maghribi (Western) | 2 | Used in North Africa; unchanged for Ba |
Ba: The Letter of Bismillah
Ba opens the Bismillah, بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم. Because of this, classical writers gave special attention to the letter and to the single dot beneath it. These are points of language and reflection, not arithmetic claims.
Ba also begins a cluster of words about blessing and shelter: بركة (barakah, blessing), بيت (bayt, house), and باب (bab, door).
Words That Begin With Ba
| Word | Meaning | Abjad value |
|---|---|---|
| بسم | Bism, “in the name of” | 102 |
| بركة | Barakah, blessing | 227 |
| بيت | Bayt, house | 412 |
| باب | Bab, door | 5 |
Names That Contain Ba
Ba appears in many names from Islamic history. The totals below are plain letter sums, shown for study only.
Prophets and Companions
| Name | Who they were | Abjad value |
|---|---|---|
| بلال | Bilal ibn Rabah, the first muezzin | 63 |
Other Names
| Name | Meaning | Abjad value |
|---|---|---|
| بكر | Bakr, “young camel,” as in Abu Bakr | 222 |
| بشير | Bashir, “bringer of good news” | 512 |
Everyday Words That Contain Ba
Ba is one of the most common letters in Arabic. Here are a few familiar words that begin with it.
| Word | Meaning | Abjad value |
|---|---|---|
| باب | Door (bab) | 5 |
| بحر | Sea (bahr) | 210 |
| بلد | Town, country (balad) | 36 |
How to Write Ba (ب)
Ba connects on both sides, so it has four shapes depending on where it falls in a word. The single dot always sits below the letter.
| Position | Form | Example | Transliteration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Isolated | ب | باب | Bab (door) |
| Initial | بـ | بيت | Bayt (house) |
| Medial | ـبـ | كبير | Kabir (big) |
| Final | ـب | قلب | Qalb (heart) |
Ba and Its Dot
What tells Ba apart from its sisters is the single dot beneath it. Move or add dots and the letter changes entirely: ب becomes ت, ث, ن, or ي.
اردو میں حرف ب (ب)
حرف ب عربی اور اردو حروفِ تہجی کا دوسرا حرف ہے، اور اس کا عدد (adad) یا ابجد قدر 2 ہے۔ یہ ایک قمری حرف ہے جس کے نیچے ایک نقطہ ہوتا ہے۔
یہی حرف بسم اللہ کا پہلا حرف ہے، اور برکت، بیت (گھر) اور باب (دروازہ) جیسے الفاظ اسی سے شروع ہوتے ہیں۔
یاد رہے کہ یہ عدد صرف حساب اور تعلیمی مقصد کے لیے ہے، کسی کے نصیب کا دعویٰ نہیں۔ مذہبی مسئلے کے لیے کسی مستند عالم سے رجوع کریں۔
Ba Across Ancient Alphabets
Ba shares its value with the second letter of the older alphabets. It comes from the Phoenician Beth, meaning “house,” which gave 2 to Hebrew and Greek as well.
| Tradition | Letter | Value | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arabic Abjad | ب | 2 | Ba, the second letter |
| Hebrew Gematria | ב | 2 | Bet, also the second and also 2 |
| Phoenician | 𐤁 | n/a | Beth, the original “house” symbol |
| Greek | Β (Beta) | 2 | Greek Beta is also 2 |
Frequently Asked Questions
The letter Ba (ب) has an Abjad value of 2 in both the Mashriqi and Maghribi systems. It is the second letter in the Abjad order.
Ba is the first letter of the Bismillah (بسم الله). Classical scholars discussed its single dot at length, which is why it is often called the letter the Quran opens with.
Ba has one dot, placed below the letter. This single dot is what separates it from Ta, Tha, Noon, and Ya, which share the same base shape.
Ba is a moon letter (huruf qamariyya), so the lam of the definite article al- is pronounced clearly before it, as in al-bayt.
The word Bism (بسم), the opening of the Bismillah, has an Abjad value of 102: Ba 2, Seen 60, Meem 40.
No. Ba is 2 in both the Eastern and Western systems, because it is not one of the six letters that differ between them.
Bilal, Bakr (as in Abu Bakr), and Bashir all begin with Ba. You can total any of them in the calculator on this page.
No. It is a fixed number used to add letters, and it makes no claim about luck, character, or the future.
✓ Key Takeaways
- Ba (ب) has an Abjad value of 2, the second value in the table
- It is a moon letter with a single dot below it
- Ba is the first letter of the Bismillah (بسم الله)
- It heads the dotted family ب ت ث ن ي, told apart only by dots
- It opens words of blessing and shelter: Barakah, Bayt, Bab
- Ba, Hebrew Bet, and Greek Beta all descend from “house” and all equal 2
- The value is plain arithmetic, for study and reference only
Sources & Further Reading
- Encyclopaedia Iranica: Abjad for the letter order and traditional values.
- Unicode Arabic Block (U+0600) for the letter and its code point (U+0628).
- Eastern vs. Maghribi Abjad for how the Mashriqi and Maghribi systems compare.