A Note on Transliteration

In transcribing Arabic and Persian into English, I have kept the general reader in mind. The system used here is a simplified form of the one adopted by the International Journal of Middle East Studies. I have kept the diacritic (‘) for the Arabic consonant ‘ayn in words such as ‘Ali and Shi‘is, as well as (’) for hamza, the character designating the glottal stop, as in ta’rikh. The plural of Arabic words has been marked by an addition of an “s” to the singular, except in such cases as “ulama,” where the plural form has become standard. The article “al-” has been omitted from last names indicating a person’s non-Arab place of origin, such as Sistani, Khoei, Khomeini, or Shirazi, and from Arabic names that have been widely cited in the Western media without the “al-,” such as Iyad ‘Allawi. Readers should also note the difference between the article “al-” and the word “Al,” which means “the house of,” and is used in this book in reference to Arab tribes and, in the cases of the Al Sa‘ud and the Al Khalifa, the ruling families of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain respectively.