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I'jam

In the Arabic script, i'jam are the "pointing" diacritics that distinguish various consonants that have the same form (rasm), such as ﺒ /b/, ﺘ /t/, ﺜ /θ/, ﻨ /n/, and ﻴ /j/.

Early manuscripts of the Qur'an did not use diacritics for either vowels (harakat) or to distinguish the different values of the rasm. The harakat were introduced first, as a red dot placed above, below, or beside the rasm, and later the i'jam were introduced, as thin, short black single or multiple dashes placed above or below the rasm. The i'jam became black dots about the same time as the harakat became small black letters or strokes.

See also

• Arabic alphabet
• Harakat