Fountain of Christianity — Page vii
vii Prophets and Messengers are followed by the symbol as , an abbreviation for ‘ Alaihissal a m (on whom be peace). The actual salutations have not generally been set out in full, but they should nevertheless, be understood as being repeated in full in each case. The symbol ra is used with the name of the companions of the Holy Prophet sa and those of the Promised Messiah as. It stands for Ra d i All a hu ‘anhu/‘anh a /‘anhum (May Allah be pleased with him/with her/with them). rh stands for Ra h imahull a hu Ta‘ a l a (may Allah have mercy on him). at stands for Ayyadahull a hu Ta‘ a l a (May Allah, the Mighty help him). In transliterating Arabic words we have followed the following system adopted by the Royal Asiatic Society. ا at the beginning of a word, pronounced as a , i , u preceded by a very slight aspiration, like h in the English word 'honour'. ث th , pronounced like th in the English word 'thing'. ح h , a guttural aspirate, stronger than h. خ kh , pronounced like the Scotch ch in 'loch'. ذ dh , pronounced like the English th in 'that'. ص s , strongly articulated s. ض d , similar to the English th in 'this'. ط t , strongly articulated palatal t. ظ z , strongly articulated z. ع ‘, a strong guttural, the pronunciation of which must be learnt by the ear. غ gh , a sound approached very nearly in the r ' grasseye ' in French, and in the German r. It re-