Rasm

For the measure of airline performance by the same name, see RASM.

Rasm is an Arabic writing script often used in the early centuries of Arabic literature (7th century - early 11th century AD). Essentially it is the same as today's Arabic script except for the big difference that dots and dashes are omitted. It is also known as Arabic skeleton script. In Rasm notation, the five distinct letters ـبـ ـتـ ـثـ ـنـ ـيـ are indistinguishable because all the dots are omitted. In other words Rasm script omits i'jam pointing.

In the early Arabic manuscripts that survive today (physical manuscripts dated 7th and 8th centuries AD), one finds dots but "putting dots was in no case compulsory". Some manuscripts have no dots at all, while others add dots only sparingly and only in phrase contexts where the scribe thinks the omission of dotting on a word would leave the meaning ambiguous.

Rasm (Arabic: رَسْم‎‎) means 'drawing', outline, or pattern in Arabic. When speaking of the Qur'an, it stands for the basic text made of the 18 letters without vowel diacritics and without i'jam consonant points.

The rasm is the oldest part of the Arabic script; it has 18 elements, excluding the ligature of lām and alif. When isolated and in the final position, the 18 letters are visually distinct. However, in the initial and medial positions, certain letters that are distinct otherwise are not differentiated visually. This results in only 15 visually distinct glyphs each in the initial and medial positions.

Name	Final	Medial	Initial	Isolated	Rasm
					Final	Medial	Initial	Isolated	Codepoint
Alif	ـا‎	ـا‎	ا‎	ا‎	ـا‎	ـا‎	ا‎	ا‎	U+0627
Bāʾ	ـب‎	ـبـ‎	بـ‎	ب‎	ـٮ‎	ـٮـ‎	ٮـ‎	ٮ‎	U+066E
Tāʾ	ـت‎	ـتـ‎	تـ‎	ت‎
Ṯāʾ	ـث‎	ـثـ‎	ثـ‎	ث‎
Nūn	ـن‎	ـنـ‎	نـ‎	ن‎	ـں‎			ں‎	U+06BA
Yāʾ	ـي‎	ـيـ‎	يـ‎	ي‎	ـى‎	ـىـ‎	ىـ‎	ى‎	U+0649
Alif maqṣūrah	ـى‎			ى‎
Ǧīm	ـج‎	ـجـ‎	جـ‎	ج‎	ـح‎	ـحـ‎	حـ‎	ح‎	U+062D
Ḥāʾ	ـح‎	ـحـ‎	حـ‎	ح‎
Ḫāʾ	ـخ‎	ـخـ‎	خـ‎	خ‎
Dāl	ـد‎	ـد‎	د‎	د‎	ـد‎	ـد‎	د‎	د‎	U+062F
Ḏāl	ـذ‎	ـذ‎	ذ‎	ذ‎
Rāʾ	ـر‎	ـر‎	ر‎	ر‎	ـر‎	ـر‎	ر‎	ر‎	U+0631
Zayn / zāy	ـز‎	ـز‎	ز‎	ز‎
Sīn	ـس‎	ـسـ‎	سـ‎	س‎	ـس‎	ـسـ‎	سـ‎	س‎	U+0633
Šīn	ـش‎	ـشـ‎	شـ‎	ش‎
Ṣād	ـص‎	ـصـ‎	صـ‎	ص‎	ـص‎	ـصـ‎	صـ‎	ص‎	U+0635
Ḍād	ـض‎	ـضـ‎	ضـ‎	ض‎
Ṭāʾ	ـط‎	ـطـ‎	طـ‎	ط‎	ـط‎	ـطـ‎	طـ‎	ط‎	U+0637
Ẓāʾ	ـظ‎	ـظـ‎	ظـ‎	ظ‎
ʿAyn	ـع‎	ـعـ‎	عـ‎	ع‎	ـع‎	ـعـ‎	عـ‎	ع‎	U+0639
Ghayn	ـغ‎	ـغـ‎	غـ‎	غ‎
Fāʾ	ـف‎	ـفـ‎	فـ‎	ف‎	ـڡ‎	ـڡـ‎	ڡـ‎	ڡ‎	U+06A1
Qāf	ـق‎	ـقـ‎	قـ‎	ق‎	ـٯ‎	ـٯـ‎	ٯـ‎	ٯ‎	U+066F
Kāf	ـك‎	ـكـ‎	كـ‎	ك‎	ـڪ‎	ـڪـ‎	ڪـ‎	ڪ‎	U+06AA
Lām	ـل‎	ـلـ‎	لـ‎	ل‎	ـل‎	ـلـ‎	لـ‎	ل‎	U+0644
Mīm	ـم‎	ـمـ‎	مـ‎	م‎	ـم‎	ـمـ‎	مـ‎	م‎	U+0645
Hāʾ	ـه‎	ـهـ‎	هـ‎	ه‎	ـه‎	ـهـ‎	هـ‎	ه‎	U+0647
Tāʾ marbūṭah	ـة‎			ة‎
Wāw	ـو‎	ـو‎	و‎	و‎	ـو‎	ـو‎	و‎	و‎	U+0648
Lām + alif	ـلا‎	ـلا‎	لا‎	لا‎	ـلا‎	ـلا‎	لا‎	لا‎	U+FEFB, U+FEFC
Hamzah	ء‎	ء‎	ء‎	ء‎	(None)

• ^a This character may not display correctly in some fonts. The dot should not appear in all four positional forms and the initial and medial forms should join with following character. In other words the initial and medial forms should look exactly like those of a dot-less bāʾ while the isolated and final forms should look like those of a dot-less nūn.
• ^b There is no hamzah in rasm writing, including hamzah-on-the-line (i.e., hamzah between letters).

Compare the beginning verse of the Qurʾān with all diacritics and with the rasm only.

The first sentence only appears as it should if one of the fonts Scheherazade or Lateef was installed. The last two sentences appear with them and can also appear properly if DejaVu Sans was installed.

With i'jam and all diacritics	بِسْمِ ٱللّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
Rasm only	ٮسم‌ا‌لله‌الرحمں‌الرحىم
Rasm with spaces	ٮسم‌‌ ا لله‌ ا لر حمں‌ ا لر حىم

Note that when rasm is written with spaces, they do not only occur between words. Within a word, spaces also appear between adjacent letters that are not connected.

Historical example

Sura 7 (Ala'araf), verses 86 & 87, of the Samarkand Qur'an, written in unadorned rasm.

The Kufic Samarkand Qur'an that was from 1869 to 1917 in St. Petersburg shows almost only the rasm.

See also

• History of the Arabic alphabet
• Qira'at

References and external links

• Some pages from the famous Saint Petersburg-Samerkand-Tashkent Koran. The fourth to seventh images are written in the Kufic script
• A page in the earliest script, known as ma'il