Notes on Transcriptions of Arabic and Other Terms and Names
Harmonizing the transcription of names and terms from diverse languages within a single system is an impossible task. In the present work, articles are included which use written sources from Arabic, Persian, Ottoman Turkish, Tatar and Russian, and, moreover, interviews in Moroccan dārija and other North African dialects. To do justice to all the different conventions of transcription in these various languages, we have chosen to combine a number of different systems, complemented with some general considerations to enhance consistency to a certain extent. The rules can be summarized as follows:
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Personal names, geographical names and terms which are commonly used in English retain their most common spellings (Jedda, Tehran, Khomeini, hajj, hadith). This also includes the name of the Prophet Muhammad.
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Arabic personal names, geographical names and terms which are not part of common English are transcribed according to generally accepted conventions (Ḥusayn, amīr al-ḥajj, al-Ṣafā). This includes the name Muḥammad when it is not referring to the Prophet and occurs in written sources.
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Persian names and terms are transliterated according to the conventions for Persian (Moʾayyad al-Dowle), except when they refer to Arabic terms or persons; in that case, they are transcribed as Arabic names/terms (Hossein, but Ḥusayn if it refers to the grandson of the Prophet). In some cases two variants, Persian and Arabic, are given.
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Ottoman Turkish, Tatar and Russian names and terms are spelled according to the respective conventions of these languages, except when they refer to Arabic terms or persons. In some cases two variants are given.
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Arabic or Persian names within the European or American contexts are written according to the regular spelling in Latin letters (Khoja Ithna Asheri).
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If quotations are given from Moroccan dārija, a phonetic rendering is given (bled), without diacritical marks.
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In the articles referring to interviews, the names of the interviewees are given in phonetic spelling, without diacritical marks.
As can be seen above, in some cases, a name or term can be spelled in different ways, according to the category to which they belong in a specific situation. For instance, ‘imam’ refers to someone who leads prayer; ‘imām’ refers to the honorific title of a religious scholar; ‘Imām’ refers to the Shiʾite title for their religious leaders; ‘Imām’ is part of a name. The purpose of the preponderance of Arabic conventions of transcription is to enable an Index that is as consistent as possible. Of course, it should be acknowledged that there is no uniform, completely consistent and all-encompassing system of transcription for either of the languages involved, so the editors apologize in advance for any inconveniences caused by the decisions summarized above.