arabic-honorific-ligatures

SVG artwork for 47 Arabic Islamic honorific ligatures—freely available for use in any digital or print project.

Background

Honorific expressions appear frequently in classical Islamic texts, yet the availability of high-quality, freely usable glyphs for these expressions remains limited. While the need is real and widespread, only a handful of fonts provide reasonable coverage, and each comes with its own constraints.

Fonts such as Scheherazade New provide solid Unicode coverage under an open license, but their honorific glyphs do not reflect the visual forms and compositions found in classical Arabic printing traditions—the kind seen in editions from publishers like Dar al-Minhaj, where honorifics are rendered with the calligraphic refinement of traditional Thuluth/Naskh. Other fonts, such as Omar Naskh, offer refined glyphs but under proprietary licenses. The KFGQPC Arabic symbol fonts come closest to the established printing standard, with elegant visual forms and compositions, but they too carry a restrictive license, cannot be freely redistributed or modified, and do not cover the full range of honorific expressions found across different Islamic scholarly traditions.

This collection addresses that gap. The artwork was handcrafted in Inkscape, while the glyphs were derived from forms generated in Kaleam and Kelk, drawing inspiration from the visual forms and compositions found in KFGQPC Arabic Symbol and in classical Arabic typography. The collection is released under the CC BY 4.0, making it freely available for use in any project—digital, print, educational, commercial, or otherwise.

Contents

| Path | Description | |------|-------------| | svg/ | Individual SVG files, one per glyph (union path) | | png/ | Individual PNG files, one per glyph (black on transparent) | | specimen/specimen-sheet.png | Full specimen sheet (all 47 glyphs) | | specimen/specimen-sheet.pdf | Specimen sheet in PDF format | | specimen/source.svg | Source file with all glyphs (Inkscape, grouped) |

File naming

Files follow the pattern {prefix}-{transliteration}.svg, where prefix indicates the honorific group:

| Prefix | Group | |--------|-------| | alh | after the name of Allah | | sal | sallallahu ... | | slt | as-salatu was-salam | | slm | as-salam | | slw | salawatullah | | rad | radiyallahu | | rhm | rahimahullah | | rmt | rahmatullah | | qds | qaddasa | | mix | mixed |

Glyph list

alh — Allah

| File | Arabic | Transliteration | USV | |------|--------|----------------|-----| | alh-azza-wa-jalla.svg | عزَّ وجلَّ | 'azza wa jalla | FDFF | | alh-jalla-jalaluh.svg | جلَّ جلاله | jalla jalāluh | FDFB | | alh-jalla-wa-ala.svg | جلَّ وعلا | jalla wa 'ala | — | | alh-subhanahu-wa-taala.svg | سبحانه وتعالى | subḥanahu wa ta'ālā | FDFE | | alh-tabaraka-wa-taala.svg | تبارك وتعالى | tabāraka wa ta'ālā | — |

sal — Sallallahu

| File | Arabic | Transliteration | USV | |------|--------|----------------|-----| | sal-sallallahu-alayhi-wa-ala-alih.svg | صلى الله عليه وعلى آله | ṣallallāhu ‘alayhi wa ‘alā ālih | FD46 | | sal-sallallahu-alayhi-wa-ala-alihi-wa-sallam.svg | صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم | ṣallallāhu ‘alayhi wa ‘alā ālihi wa sallam | FD4C | | sal-sallallahu-alayhi-wa-sallam-rounded.svg | صلى الله عليه وسلم | ṣallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam (rounded) | FDFA | | sal-sallallahu-alayhi-wa-sallam-square.svg | صلى الله عليه وسلم | ṣallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam (square) | FDFA |

slt — As-Salatu was-Salam

| File | Arabic | Transliteration | USV | |------|--------|----------------|-----| | slt-alayhi-assalatu-was-salam.svg | عليه الصلاة والسلام | ‘alayhiṣ ṣalātu was salām | FD4A | | slt-alayha-assalatu-was-salam.svg | عليها الصلاة والسلام | ‘alayhaṣ ṣalātu was salām | — | | slt-alayhi-wa-ala-alihi-assalatu-was-salam.svg | عليه وعلى آله الصلاة والسلام | ‘alayhi wa ‘alā ālihiṣ ṣalatu was salām | — | | slt-alayhim-assalatu-was-salam.svg | عليهم الصلاة والسلام | ‘alayhimuṣ ṣalātu was salām | — | | slt-alayhima-assalatu-was-salam.svg | عليهما الصلاة والسلام | ‘alayhimaṣ ṣalātu was salām | — |

slm — As-Salam

| File | Arabic | Transliteration | USV | |------|--------|----------------|-----| | slm-alayhi-assalam.svg | عليه السلام | ‘alayhis salām | FD47 | | slm-alayha-assalam.svg | عليها السلام | ‘alayhas salām | FD4D | | slm-alayhim-assalam.svg | عليهم السلام | ‘alayhimus salām | FD48 | | slm-alayhima-assalam.svg | عليهما السلام | ‘alayhimas salām | FD49 |

slw — Salawatullah

| File | Arabic | Transliteration | |------|--------|----------------| | slw-salawatullah-alayhi.svg | صلوات الله عليه | ṣalawātullāhi ‘alayhi | | slw-salawatullah-alayha.svg | صلوات الله عليها | ṣalawātullāhi ‘alayhā | | slw-salawatullah-alayhim.svg | صلوات الله عليهم | ṣalawātullāhi ‘alayhim | | slw-salawatullah-alayhima.svg | صلوات الله عليهما | ṣalawātullāhi ‘alayhimā |

rad — Radiyallahu

| File | Arabic | Transliteration | USV | |------|--------|----------------|-----| | rad-radiyallahu-anhu.svg | رضي الله عنه | raḍiyallāhu ‘anhu | FD41 | | rad-radiyallahu-anha.svg | رضي الله عنها | raḍiyallāhu ‘anhā | FD42 | | rad-radiyallahu-anhum.svg | رضي الله عنهم | raḍiyallāhu ‘anhum | FD43 | | rad-radiyallahu-anhuma.svg | رضي الله عنهما | raḍiyallāhu ‘anhumā | FD44 | | rad-radiyallahu-anhunna.svg | رضي الله عنهن | raḍiyallāhu ‘anhunna | FD45 |

rhm — Rahimahullah

| File | Arabic | Transliteration | USV | |------|--------|----------------|-----| | rhm-rahimahu-allah.svg | رحمه الله | raḥimahullāh | FD40 | | rhm-rahimaha-allah.svg | رحمها الله | raḥimahallāh | — | | rhm-rahimahum-allah.svg | رحمهم الله | raḥimahumullāh | FD4F | | rhm-rahimahuma-allah.svg | رحمهما الله | raḥimahumallāh | — | | rhm-rahimahunna-allah.svg | رحمهن الله | raḥimahunnallāh | — |

rmt — Rahmatullah

| File | Arabic | Transliteration | USV | |------|--------|----------------|-----| | rmt-rahmatullah-alayhi.svg | رحمة الله عليه | raḥmatullāhi ‘alayh | FD90 | | rmt-rahmatullah-alayha.svg | رحمة الله عليها | raḥmatullāhi ‘alayhā | FD91 | | rmt-rahmatullah-alayhim.svg | رحمة الله عليهم | raḥmatullāhi ‘alayhim | FBC6 | | rmt-rahmatullah-alayhima.svg | رحمة الله عليهما | raḥmatullāhi ‘alayhimā | FBC7 | | rmt-rahmatullah-alayhinna.svg | رحمة الله عليهن | raḥmatullāhi ‘alayhinna | — |

qds — Quddisa / Qaddasa

| File | Arabic | Transliteration | USV | |------|--------|----------------|-----| | qds-quddisa-sirrahu.svg | قدس سره | quddisa sirruhu | FD4B | | qds-qaddasallahu-sirrahu.svg | قدس الله سره | qaddasallāhu sirrahu | — | | qds-qaddasallahu-sirraha.svg | قدس الله سرها | qaddasallāhu sirrahā | — | | qds-qaddasallahu-sirrahum.svg | قدس الله سرهم | qaddasallāhu sirrahum | — | | qds-qaddasallahu-sirrahuma.svg | قدس الله سرهما | qaddasallāhu sirrahumā | — |

mix — Mixed

| File | Arabic | Transliteration | |------|--------|----------------| | mix-ajjalallahu-farajah.svg | أجّل الله فرجه | ‘ajjalallāhu farajah | | mix-gafarallahu.svg | غفر الله له | gafarallāhu lahu | | mix-hafizahu-allah.svg | حفظه الله | hafiẓahullāh | | mix-hafizaha-allah.svg | حفظها الله | hafiẓahallāh | | mix-karamallahu-wajhah.svg | كرم الله وجهه | karamallāhu wajhah | | mix-nafaanallahu-bihi.svg | نفعنا الله به | nafa‘anallāhu bihi |

Note on USV: Unicode Scalar Values listed above are based on the honorific encoding in Scheherazade New and the Unicode Arabic Honorifics proposal. Glyphs marked — do not yet have assigned Unicode codepoints and are candidates for Private Use Area (PUA) encoding. A proposal to contribute this artwork to Scheherazade New has been submitted—see issue #15.

Contributing

Found an issue or want to request a new ligature? Open an issue.

Interested in developing this artwork into a full font, or have ideas for collaboration? We'd love to hear from you. Feel free to reach out via the issues page or at [email protected].

License

CC BY 4.0—Copyright (c) 2026 BaAlwi Heritage (ID)

About BaAlwi Heritage: Ba Alawi Masters Heritage Trust is dedicated to the preservation and advancement of the cultural and textual heritage of the Ba'alwi Masters—collecting, authenticating, and digitising manuscripts and making them freely available through digital platforms and emerging technologies. Learn more at baalwi.net.

— @baalwi-id · [email protected] · baalwi.net