As Arabic uses several letters not found in English, a transcription system must be used. This follows the standard of the Library of Congress (which can be found at http://transliteration.eki.ee/pdf/Arabic.pdf), with a few exceptions. The emphatic k is written as q; other emphatic consonants are indicated with a dot below the letter, as in Ḥasan. The pronunciation of emphatic consonants is difficult to explain: they are pronounced further back than their non-emphatic counterparts and are often described as "more forceful" in pronunciation. The following consonants have emphatic forms indicated with a dot under the consonant: h, t, d, s, and z. Occasionally the dots may appear as if they are under another letter; this is an unavoidable problem with the notation in html. For further assistance, find someone who speaks Arabic. There are two special characters: ` is ayn (as in the given name `Imrān) and ' is hamza (in the given name Ismaī'l). These are also somewhat difficult to explain: both are pronounced far back in your throat; the first is voiced and the second unvoiced. For further assistance, find someone who speaks Arabic or consult a guide to Arabic pronunciation.
Long vowels are marked with a macron (long mark). These are longer in duration, but not a different sound, than short vowels. When words start with the "sun consonants" (t, th, d, dh, r, z, s, sh, ṣ, ḍ, ṭ, ẓ, n), the consonant ‘l’ at the end of the article al was assimilated to the following consonant, so that a name like al-Zahra 'the radiant' would have been pronounced \ahz zah rah\. This change in pronunciation is not written out here.