Selected Persian Poems of the Promised Messiah (as) — Page xi
غ غ gh – a sound similar to the French r in grasseye, and to the German r. It requires the muscles of the throat to be in the ‘gargling’ position to pronounce it. ق ق q – a deep guttural k sound. ء ء ’ – a sort of catch in the voice. Short vowels are represented by: a for __ َ َ ___ (like u in bud ). i for __ ِ ِ ___ (like i in bid ). u for __ ُ ُ ___ (like oo in wood ). Long vowels by: a for __ ٰ ٰ ___ or آ آ (like a in father ). i for ی ی __ ِ ___ or __ ٖ ___ (like ee in deep ). u for و و __ ُ ___ (like oo in root ). Other vowels by: ai for ی ی __ َ ___ (like i in site ). au for و و __ َ ___ (resembling ou in sound ). The consonants not included in the above list have the same phonetic value as in the principal languages of Europe. While the Arabic ن ن is represented by n , we have indicated the Urdu ں ں as ń. As noted above, the single quotation mark ‘ is used for transliterating ع ع which is distinct from the apostrophe ’ used for ء ء. Publisher’s Note xi