Transliteration Tables

Al-Qamar provides transliteration tables to assist authors in preparing Roman-script metadata, names, titles, keywords, references, and non-Roman source details. These tables are provided with reference to the ALA-LC Romanization Tables and are intended to support consistency in Arabic, Urdu, and Persian transliteration across manuscripts submitted to the journal.

Authors submitting manuscripts in Urdu, Arabic, Persian, or using non-Roman script material should consult the relevant transliteration table before final submission. Consistent transliteration improves academic clarity, citation accuracy, metadata quality, indexing readability, author identification, and international discoverability.

Available Transliteration Tables

Authors may consult the following transliteration tables for preparing manuscripts, references, metadata, and source details.

Arabic Transliteration Table

For Arabic terms, names, book titles, Qur’anic terminology, Hadith terminology, classical Arabic sources, manuscript titles, and Arabic bibliographic references, authors should consult the Arabic transliteration table.

Download/View Arabic Transliteration Table

Urdu Transliteration Table

For Urdu manuscripts, Urdu books, article titles, personal names, place names, references, technical terms, and Urdu bibliographic records, authors should consult the Urdu transliteration table.

Download/View Urdu Transliteration Table

Persian Transliteration Table

For Persian sources, Persian titles, Persian names, Persian terms, manuscript references, and Persian bibliographic records, authors should consult the Persian transliteration table.

Download/View Persian Transliteration Table

Use in Manuscripts and Metadata

For Urdu and Arabic manuscripts, authors must provide:

  • English title
  • English abstract
  • English keywords
  • Roman-script author names
  • Complete author affiliations in English
  • Corresponding author details in English
  • Roman-script references or bibliographic metadata where required for indexing and discovery

For references written in Arabic, Urdu, Persian, or any other non-Roman script, authors may provide the original-script reference together with Roman-script transliteration or English bibliographic information where appropriate.

This requirement supports international visibility, indexing readability, citation tracking, database discovery, and accurate identification of authors and published articles.

Consistency Requirement

Authors must apply transliteration consistently throughout the manuscript. The same author name, scholar name, book title, place name, technical term, school of thought, historical period, or reference should not appear in different spellings unless there is a clear scholarly reason.

For example, the same term should not appear in multiple inconsistent forms within the same article, such as:

  • Qur’an, Quran, Quraan, and Qurʾān
  • Hadith, Hadees, Hadis, and Ḥadīth
  • Shariah, Shari‘ah, Sharia, and Sharīʿah

The journal allows simplified academic transliteration where full diacritical transliteration is not necessary. However, whether authors use simplified transliteration or full diacritical transliteration, consistency is required throughout the manuscript.

Inconsistent transliteration may affect citation tracking, metadata quality, indexing, author identification, searchability, and reader understanding. The editorial office may ask authors to revise transliteration before editorial processing, peer review, copyediting, or publication.

Diacritics and Simplified Transliteration

Authors may use diacritics for technical Arabic, Urdu, or Persian terms where necessary, especially in specialized studies related to Qur’anic Studies, Hadith Studies, Islamic jurisprudence, Arabic Studies, manuscript studies, textual criticism, theology, philosophy, and classical Islamic sources.

Examples of diacritical transliteration may include:

  • ḥadīth
  • tafsīr
  • fiqh
  • uṣūl al-fiqh
  • sharīʿah
  • isnād
  • matn
  • ijtihād
  • ijmāʿ
  • qiyās

If diacritics are used, they should be used consistently. If simplified transliteration is used, it should also be applied consistently. Authors should ensure that transliterated terms remain clear, searchable, readable, and verifiable.

Relation with Citation and Reference Style

The transliteration tables should be used together with Al-Qamar’s Citation and References Style. Authors should ensure that non-Roman references are complete, readable, verifiable, and suitable for indexing and international discovery.

Where a source title is given in Arabic, Urdu, Persian, or another non-English language, an English translation may be added in brackets if it helps international readers identify the source.

Example:

Al-Risālah [The Treatise]

Translated titles should be accurate and should not replace the original title where the original title is necessary for proper identification.

Names, Titles, and Affiliations

Authors should write personal names, institutional names, place names, book titles, journal titles, and technical terms consistently across the manuscript, OJS metadata, article file, references, and final published version.

Author names in Roman script should remain consistent across:

  • manuscript file
  • OJS metadata
  • article PDF
  • English abstract
  • DOI metadata where applicable
  • future submissions by the same author

Author affiliations should be provided in English and should normally include department, institution, city, and country.

Example:

Department / Centre / Institute, University / Institution, City, Country

Where available, authors are encouraged to provide ORCID iDs and institutional email addresses.

Non-Roman References

References in Arabic, Urdu, Persian, or other non-Roman scripts should be handled carefully. Where required for indexing, metadata, and discovery, authors should provide Roman-script bibliographic details.

A reference may include both original script and transliteration where appropriate. Authors should ensure that references remain readable, searchable, and verifiable.

Roman-script bibliographic details may include:

  • author name
  • title of work
  • editor or translator where applicable
  • publisher
  • place of publication
  • year of publication
  • volume and page number where applicable
  • DOI or URL where available

For manuscript sources, authors should provide archive or library name, manuscript number, folio or page number, and other identifying details where available.

Qur’anic and Hadith References

Qur’anic references should be accurate and consistent. Authors should provide the Surah name or number and verse number.

Examples:

  • Qur’an 2:256
  • Al-Baqarah 2:256
  • Surah al-Baqarah, 2:256

Authors should use one reference style consistently throughout the manuscript. If a translation is quoted, the translator or translation source should be identified where required.

Hadith references should also be accurate and verifiable. Authors should provide sufficient bibliographic details, including collection name, book or chapter where applicable, Hadith number where available, volume and page number where using a printed edition, and editor or publisher information where required.

Authors should avoid unsupported references such as “Hadith says” without proper source identification.

Translation Accuracy

Authors are responsible for the accuracy of translations used in their manuscripts. If authors translate a passage themselves, they may indicate this where necessary. If a published translation is used, it should be cited properly.

Translations should not distort the meaning of the original text. The journal may request clarification where a translation is central to the manuscript’s argument.

Sectarian, Legal and Theological Terms

Authors should use sectarian, legal, and theological terms carefully, accurately, and respectfully. Schools of thought, legal positions, narrations, theological views, and intellectual traditions should be identified fairly and supported by evidence.

Contested interpretations should not be presented as undisputed facts unless the evidence clearly supports such a claim. Academic disagreement is acceptable, but language should remain scholarly, balanced, and respectful.

Editorial Review of Transliteration

During editorial screening, the journal may check:

  • English title, abstract, and keywords
  • Roman-script author names
  • English affiliations
  • transliteration consistency
  • reference readability
  • accuracy of Qur’anic and Hadith references
  • completeness of non-Roman references
  • metadata quality
  • indexing suitability

A manuscript may be returned to authors for correction before peer review if transliteration, metadata, references, or non-Roman source details are incomplete, inconsistent, or unsuitable for scholarly publication and indexing.

Author Responsibility

Authors are responsible for the accuracy and consistency of transliteration used in their manuscripts. This includes names, titles, technical terms, references, metadata, abstracts, keywords, translations, and non-Roman source details.

Al-Qamar may return manuscripts for correction if transliteration, Roman-script metadata, references, or non-Roman source details are incomplete, inconsistent, inaccurate, or unsuitable for scholarly publication, indexing, and international discoverability.

Final Statement

These transliteration tables are provided as author-help resources with reference to the ALA-LC Romanization Tables. They are intended to support multilingual scholarship while maintaining international standards of metadata preparation, citation accuracy, indexing readability, author identification, and academic discoverability.

Al-Qamar supports scholarship in English, Urdu, and Arabic while encouraging consistent transliteration and reliable Roman-script metadata so that published articles remain academically clear, searchable, verifiable, and useful for national and international readers.