محمدمسعود هاشمی

Apparently, the Arabic letters which are known today as Hamza (ء (and Alif (ا(, were originally known and used in the past in the form of Alif (ا (and “Lām-Alif” (ال(, respectively. In this article, we will introduce and study the application of the letter “Lām-Alif” in the Arabic and Kufic alphabets, which seems to be less known to many scholars today. To better clarify the issue, we will also introduce the original letter Alif (known today as Hamza) and study comparatively and historically both Alif and “Lām-Alif”. In the end, we will investigate about the letter “Lām-Alif” in the Islamic traditions. This study was conducted with a library method. We will show that despite the transformation of Alif (ا (and Lām-alif (ال(, respectively, into Hamza (ء (and Alif (ا (may have been the mainstream, but the application of the letter Lām-alif was not completely obsolete. The letter has been used during many centuries, not only in the authentic scripts of the Arabic literacy, but also in the popular scripts, and is even used in the Persian poems. It will be also discussed whether the “Lām-Alif” was a single letter in nature or a compound letter by combining Lam (ل (and Alif (ا (as the latter belief is more accepted traditionally.