Where possible, I have tried to use the conventionally accepted English translations of Arabic words to avoid distracting the reader. Sometimes use of Arabic words is unavoidable, although many of the more frequently used words have already found their way into the English language (words like Sharia or jihad, for example).
The keen student of Arabic will note my transliteration of Arabic words into the Latin script follows convention in some but not all cases.
Most obviously, I have avoided using the reverse apostrophe to denote the guttural vowel ‘ayn’ since to do so may risk confusion with the glottal stop (conventionally denoted by a normal apostrophe). As a result, words like Shari‘a and ‘Umar containing ‘ayn’ are spelt Sharia and Umar instead. Similarly, Qur’an (containing the glottal stop) is spelt Quran. The lack of diacritical marks may also make things easier for the reader unfamiliar with Arabic words. The observant reader will also note that I have made an exception for the word wa‘d (meaning a promise or undertaking) since it simply looked awkward without the apostrophe, and might encourage English speakers to pronounce it like the English word ‘wad’, which would mangle it beyond recognition.
I have made no attempt to differentiate between the two types of h, s and t sounds in the transliteration. However, the difference between the q and k sounds is represented (for example in Quran and Kaaba respectively). I have also allowed for the softer ‘d’ sound by transliterating it as ‘dh’.
Some readers may also notice that the transliteration of proper nouns is not always consistent, particularly people’s names. I have tended to use the English spellings of individuals’ names as used by them: Hussein and Hussain is a good example of the same name transliterated in two different ways.