Jawi
Encyclopedia
Jawi is an Arabic alphabet for writing the Malay language
.
Jawi is one of the two official scripts in Brunei
, and is used as an alternate script in Malaysia. Usage wise, it was the standard script for the Malay language but has since been replaced by a Roman alphabet called Rumi
, and Jawi has since been relegated to a script used for religious and cultural purposes. Day-to-day usage of Jawi is maintained in more conservative Malay-populated areas such as Sulu in the Philippines
, Pattani
in Thailand
, Kelantan
in Malaysia. and parts of Malay dominated areas
in Indonesia
.
The Jawi alphabet has existed since around 1300 CE in the Malay Archipelago
. Its development is linked with the arrival of Islam
, mainly from Persian
s. It was adapted to suit spoken classical Malay – it is written from right to left and has 6 sounds not found in Arabic: ca pa ga nga va and nya. Many Arabic characters are never used as they are not pronounced in Malay language
, and some letters are never joined and some joined obligatorily so.
The Jawi script originated from Arabic literature introduced from Persian contact with the Kingdom of Jambi, also called the Kingdom of Malayu, north of Palembang, Sumatera, Indonesia, where classical Malay- the root language from which modern Indonesian
and Malay
are both derived.
It is probable that those who converted to Islam opted to write in the Jawi script, due to its close association with Islamic culture, rather than to use the Javanese script
, which was derived from the writing systems used in the Hindu and Buddhist regions of South Asia. The etymology
of Jawi
imply originated in Java
, as some scholars argue. However, as it is present, but not common in Java, it could be the case that the word Jawi was used as a catch-all term to describe those under Javanese rule or from the vague direction of Java. It could also be
referring to the ancient empire of Javaka
, hence the term Jawi, the predecessor to the empires of Majapahit and Srivijaya
with whom the Arabs traders and missionaries made early contact.
The earliest archeological remains have been found on the Terengganu Inscription Stone
(Batu Bersurat Terengganu), dated 1303 A.D. (702H by the Islamic calendar
), whereas the earliest use of the Roman alphabet is found near the end of the 19th century. The earliest document so far discovered is the circa 1300–1399 CE romantic poem Syair Bidasari discovered in Sumatra.
The region of Terengganu was known to be under the influence of Srivijaya
as late as the 13th century, while the Terengganu Sultanate only dates as far back as the 18th century. This adds extra weight to the argument of Jawi originating in Jambi by the former Sriwijaya vassal
kingdoms of Pasai
.
Darussalem to the Sultanate of Ternate
in the east as early as the 15th century. The jawi script was used in royal correspondences, decrees, poems and was widely understood by the merchants in the port of Malacca as the main means of communication. Early legal digests such as the Malacca Code and its derivatives including the Codes of Johor, Kedah and Brunei were written in this script. It is the medium of expression of kings, nobility and the religious scholars. It is the traditional symbol of Malay culture and civilization. Jawi was used not only amongst the ruling class, but also the common people. The Islamisation of the region popularised jawi into a dominant script.
Royal correspondences for example are written, embellished and ceremoniously delivered. Examples of royal correspondences still in the good condition is the letter between Sultan Abu Hayat of Ternate
and King John III of Portugal (1521) ; the letter from Sultan Iskandar Muda of Aceh to King James I of England (1615); the letter from Sultan Abdul Jalil IV of Johor to King Louis XV of France (1719). Many literary works such as epics, poetry and prose use the Jawi script. It is the pinnacle of the classic Malay civilization. Historical epics such as the Malay Annals, as listed by UNESCO
under Memories of the World, are among the countless epics written by the Malay people. The Sufic poems by Hamzah Fansuri
and many others contributed to the richness and depth of the Malay civilization.
To the Malays, there has never been any difference between using jawi or rumi. Both are scripts that have been appropriated to represent the Malay language in writing. During the colonial period, jawi still predominated throughout the Malay Archipelago, particularly in the literary and artistic domains, Islamic theology, philosophy and mysticism, commerce and trade, as well as in feudal governance and laws. Over time, with the preponderance of rumi, jawi has become primarily reserved for Malay religious discourse. Jawi script was the official script for Unfederated Malay States
during British protectorate.
. Pegon script is used instead for religious purpose & teaching in Java
.
Today, the script is used for religious and Malay cultural administration in Terengganu
, Kelantan
, Kedah
, Perlis
and Johor
, as well as in Sulu and Marawi in the Philippines
. Various efforts were in place to revive the Jawi script in Malaysia and Brunei due to its important role in the Malay and Islamic spheres. Jawi scripts are also seen at the rear of Ringgit Malaysia and Brunei dollar
banknotes.The Malays in Patani still use Jawi today for the same reasons.
It is worth noting a quotation by Pendeta Za’ba in the foreword of the book Panduan Membaca dan Menulis Jawi (1957):
“We should not discard or abandon the jawi script even though Malays are generally using the romanised script. This is because the jawi script belongs to us and is part of our heritage.”
In Windows Vista
, 7, or XP
, this rendering engine is %WINDIR%\system32\usp10.dll. In XP, the usp10.dll is version 1.4 and doesn't support certain Jawi characters such as gaf. In Vista, the usp10.dll is version 1.61 and support all jawi characters. The latest technology is DirectWrite
from Microsoft. It is a text layout and glyph-rendering API. It was designed to replace GDI/GDI+ and Uniscribe for screen-oriented rendering and was shipped with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, as well as Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.
In Mac OS X and Linux, the rendering process is different.
The encoding for gaf is U+0762 (ݢ), not U+06AC (ڬ). The latter has a different final form, but is better supported in fonts and therefore often used as a substitute in local publications.
Some government bodies (SIRIM, UKM, UITM, UM, UTM, JAKIM, DBP) in Malaysia have proposed a standard Jawi keyboard layout based on the Arabic(Saudi Arabia).
, including right-to-left writing. This includes all major office suites such as MS-OFFICE and OpenOffice.
Malay language
Malay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...
.
Jawi is one of the two official scripts in Brunei
Brunei
Brunei , officially the State of Brunei Darussalam or the Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace , is a sovereign state located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia...
, and is used as an alternate script in Malaysia. Usage wise, it was the standard script for the Malay language but has since been replaced by a Roman alphabet called Rumi
Malay alphabet
The modern Malay alphabet consists of the 26 letters of the basic Latin alphabet without any diacritics. It is the more common of the two alphabets used today to write the Malay language, the other being Jawi...
, and Jawi has since been relegated to a script used for religious and cultural purposes. Day-to-day usage of Jawi is maintained in more conservative Malay-populated areas such as Sulu in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, Pattani
Pattani
Pattani may refer to* Pattani Province, in southern Thailand* Pattani , in southern Thailand* Pattani , which includes the above province** Pattani Kingdom, a former semi-independent kingdom...
in Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, Kelantan
Kelantan
Kelantan is a state of Malaysia. The capital and royal seat is Kota Bharu. The Arabic honorific of the state is Darul Naim, ....
in Malaysia. and parts of Malay dominated areas
Malay Indonesian
Malay Indonesians are ethnic Malays living throughout Indonesia, as one of the indigenous peoples of the island nation. Indonesia has the second largest ethnic Malay population, the first is Malaysia. Historically, Indonesian, the national language of Indonesia, was derived from the Malay spoken...
in Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
.
Introduction
Malay Archipelago
The Malay Archipelago refers to the archipelago between mainland Southeastern Asia and Australia. The name was derived from the anachronistic concept of a Malay race....
. Its development is linked with the arrival of Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, mainly from Persian
Persian people
The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians and themselves part of...
s. It was adapted to suit spoken classical Malay – it is written from right to left and has 6 sounds not found in Arabic: ca pa ga nga va and nya. Many Arabic characters are never used as they are not pronounced in Malay language
Malay language
Malay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...
, and some letters are never joined and some joined obligatorily so.
The Jawi script originated from Arabic literature introduced from Persian contact with the Kingdom of Jambi, also called the Kingdom of Malayu, north of Palembang, Sumatera, Indonesia, where classical Malay- the root language from which modern Indonesian
Indonesian language
Indonesian is the official language of Indonesia. Indonesian is a normative form of the Riau Islands dialect of Malay, an Austronesian language which has been used as a lingua franca in the Indonesian archipelago for centuries....
and Malay
Malay language
Malay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...
are both derived.
It is probable that those who converted to Islam opted to write in the Jawi script, due to its close association with Islamic culture, rather than to use the Javanese script
Javanese script
The Javanese alphabet, natively known as Hanacaraka or Carakan , known by the Sundanese people as Cacarakan is the pre-colonial script used to write the Javanese language....
, which was derived from the writing systems used in the Hindu and Buddhist regions of South Asia. The etymology
Etymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
of Jawi
Jawi
Jawi is an Arabic alphabet for writing the Malay language.Jawi is one of the two official scripts in Brunei, and is used as an alternate script in Malaysia...
imply originated in Java
Java
Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...
, as some scholars argue. However, as it is present, but not common in Java, it could be the case that the word Jawi was used as a catch-all term to describe those under Javanese rule or from the vague direction of Java. It could also be
referring to the ancient empire of Javaka
Javaka
Reference to the Sri Lankan materials, king Chandrabhanu Sridhamaraja is one of Javakan kings from Tambralinga kingdom, one the kingdoms in the prehistory period of Nusantara, who had invaded Sri Lankan in 1247. However the Javaka has not occurred here for the first time...
, hence the term Jawi, the predecessor to the empires of Majapahit and Srivijaya
Srivijaya
Srivijaya was a powerful ancient thalassocratic Malay empire based on the island of Sumatra, modern day Indonesia, which influenced much of Southeast Asia. The earliest solid proof of its existence dates from the 7th century; a Chinese monk, I-Tsing, wrote that he visited Srivijaya in 671 for 6...
with whom the Arabs traders and missionaries made early contact.
The earliest archeological remains have been found on the Terengganu Inscription Stone
Terengganu Inscription Stone
Terengganu Inscription Stone is the oldest artifact with Jawi writing on it. The inscriptions, which are in Malay, believed to be written on 22 February 1303...
(Batu Bersurat Terengganu), dated 1303 A.D. (702H by the Islamic calendar
Islamic calendar
The Hijri calendar , also known as the Muslim calendar or Islamic calendar , is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days. It is used to date events in many Muslim countries , and used by Muslims everywhere to determine the proper day on which to celebrate Islamic...
), whereas the earliest use of the Roman alphabet is found near the end of the 19th century. The earliest document so far discovered is the circa 1300–1399 CE romantic poem Syair Bidasari discovered in Sumatra.
The region of Terengganu was known to be under the influence of Srivijaya
Srivijaya
Srivijaya was a powerful ancient thalassocratic Malay empire based on the island of Sumatra, modern day Indonesia, which influenced much of Southeast Asia. The earliest solid proof of its existence dates from the 7th century; a Chinese monk, I-Tsing, wrote that he visited Srivijaya in 671 for 6...
as late as the 13th century, while the Terengganu Sultanate only dates as far back as the 18th century. This adds extra weight to the argument of Jawi originating in Jambi by the former Sriwijaya vassal
Vassal
A vassal or feudatory is a person who has entered into a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. The obligations often included military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain privileges, usually including the grant of land held...
kingdoms of Pasai
Pasai
Pasai, also known as Samudera and Samudera-Pasai sometimes called Samudera Darussalam was a Muslim harbour kingdom on the north coast of Sumatra from the 13th to the 15th centuries CE. It was believed the word Samudera derived from Samudra meaning ocean in Sanskrit...
.
The spread and extent of Jawi script
The script became prominent with the spread of Islam, as the Malays found that the earlier Pallava script was totally unsuited as a vehicle to relay religious concepts. The Malays held the script in high esteem as it is the gateway to understanding Islam and its Holy Book, the Quran. The use of jawi script was a key factor driving the emergence of Malay as the lingua franca of the region, alongside the spread of Islam. It was widely used in the Sultanate of Malacca, Sultanate of Johor, Sultanate of Brunei, Sultanate of Sulu, Sultanate of Patani, the independent Sultanate of AcehAceh
Aceh is a special region of Indonesia, located on the northern tip of the island of Sumatra. Its full name is Daerah Istimewa Aceh , Nanggroë Aceh Darussalam and Aceh . Past spellings of its name include Acheh, Atjeh and Achin...
Darussalem to the Sultanate of Ternate
Sultanate of Ternate
The Sultanate of Ternate was originally named the Kingdom of Gapi, but later change the name base of its capital, Ternate. The sultanate is one of the oldest Muslim kingdoms in Indonesia, established by Baab Mashur Malamo in 1257...
in the east as early as the 15th century. The jawi script was used in royal correspondences, decrees, poems and was widely understood by the merchants in the port of Malacca as the main means of communication. Early legal digests such as the Malacca Code and its derivatives including the Codes of Johor, Kedah and Brunei were written in this script. It is the medium of expression of kings, nobility and the religious scholars. It is the traditional symbol of Malay culture and civilization. Jawi was used not only amongst the ruling class, but also the common people. The Islamisation of the region popularised jawi into a dominant script.
Royal correspondences for example are written, embellished and ceremoniously delivered. Examples of royal correspondences still in the good condition is the letter between Sultan Abu Hayat of Ternate
Sultanate of Ternate
The Sultanate of Ternate was originally named the Kingdom of Gapi, but later change the name base of its capital, Ternate. The sultanate is one of the oldest Muslim kingdoms in Indonesia, established by Baab Mashur Malamo in 1257...
and King John III of Portugal (1521) ; the letter from Sultan Iskandar Muda of Aceh to King James I of England (1615); the letter from Sultan Abdul Jalil IV of Johor to King Louis XV of France (1719). Many literary works such as epics, poetry and prose use the Jawi script. It is the pinnacle of the classic Malay civilization. Historical epics such as the Malay Annals, as listed by UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
under Memories of the World, are among the countless epics written by the Malay people. The Sufic poems by Hamzah Fansuri
Hamzah Fansuri
Hamzah Fansuri was a famous Sumatran Sufi writer, the first known to pen mystical panentheistic ideas in the Malay language. He wrote both prose and poetry, and worked at the court of the Aceh Sultanate....
and many others contributed to the richness and depth of the Malay civilization.
To the Malays, there has never been any difference between using jawi or rumi. Both are scripts that have been appropriated to represent the Malay language in writing. During the colonial period, jawi still predominated throughout the Malay Archipelago, particularly in the literary and artistic domains, Islamic theology, philosophy and mysticism, commerce and trade, as well as in feudal governance and laws. Over time, with the preponderance of rumi, jawi has become primarily reserved for Malay religious discourse. Jawi script was the official script for Unfederated Malay States
Unfederated Malay States
The term Unfederated Malay States was the collective name given to five British protected states in the Malay peninsula in the first half of the twentieth century. These states were Johor, Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis, and Terengganu...
during British protectorate.
Jawi today
Indonesia, looking back to its Javanese Majapahit roots, is less than enthusiastic with regards to the script. It is today seen as backward or kampungan lacking the grace, beauty and illustrious nature of Javanese scriptJavanese script
The Javanese alphabet, natively known as Hanacaraka or Carakan , known by the Sundanese people as Cacarakan is the pre-colonial script used to write the Javanese language....
. Pegon script is used instead for religious purpose & teaching in Java
Java
Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...
.
Today, the script is used for religious and Malay cultural administration in Terengganu
Terengganu
Terengganu is a sultanate and constitutive state of federal Malaysia. The state is also known by its Arabic honorific, Darul Iman...
, Kelantan
Kelantan
Kelantan is a state of Malaysia. The capital and royal seat is Kota Bharu. The Arabic honorific of the state is Darul Naim, ....
, Kedah
Kedah
Kedah is a state of Malaysia, located in the northwestern part of Peninsular Malaysia. The state covers a total area of over 9,000 km², and it consists of the mainland and Langkawi. The mainland has a relatively flat terrain, which is used to grow rice...
, Perlis
Perlis
Perlis is the smallest state in Malaysia. It lies at the northern part of the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and has Satun and Songkhla Provinces of Thailand on its northern border. It is bordered by the state of Kedah to the south...
and Johor
Johor
Johor is a Malaysian state, located in the southern portion of Peninsular Malaysia. It is one of the most developed states in Malaysia. The state capital city and royal city of Johor is Johor Bahru, formerly known as Tanjung Puteri...
, as well as in Sulu and Marawi in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. Various efforts were in place to revive the Jawi script in Malaysia and Brunei due to its important role in the Malay and Islamic spheres. Jawi scripts are also seen at the rear of Ringgit Malaysia and Brunei dollar
Brunei dollar
The ringgit Brunei or the Brunei dollar , has been the currency of the Sultanate of Brunei since 1967...
banknotes.The Malays in Patani still use Jawi today for the same reasons.
It is worth noting a quotation by Pendeta Za’ba in the foreword of the book Panduan Membaca dan Menulis Jawi (1957):
“We should not discard or abandon the jawi script even though Malays are generally using the romanised script. This is because the jawi script belongs to us and is part of our heritage.”
Letters
| Character | Isolated | Initial | Medial | Final | Name | Unicode |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ا | ﺍ | ﺎ | alif | 0627 | ||
| ب | ﺏ | ﺑ | ـﺒ | ـﺐ | ba | 0628 |
| ت | ﺕ | ﺗ | ـﺘ | ـﺖ | ta | 062A |
| ة | ة | ـة | ta marbutah | 0629 | ||
| ث | ﺙ | ﺛ | ـﺜ | ـﺚ | tsa | 062B |
| ج | ﺝ | ﺟ | ـﺠ | ـﺞ | jim | 062C |
| ح | ﺡ | ﺣ | ـﺤ | ـﺢ | hha | 062D |
| چ | ﭺ | ﭼ | ـﭽ | ـﭻ | ca | 0686 |
| خ | ﺥ | ﺧ | ـﺨ | ـﺦ | kha | 062E |
| د | د | ـد | dal | 062F | ||
| ذ | ﺫ | ـذ | dzal | 0630 | ||
| ر | ﺭ | ـر | ra | 0631 | ||
| ز | ﺯ | ـز | zai | 0632 | ||
| س | ﺱ | ﺳ | ـﺴ | ـﺲ | sin | 0633 |
| ش | ﺵ | ﺷ | ـﺸ | ـﺶ | syin | 0634 |
| ص | ﺹ | ﺻ | ـﺼ | ـﺺ | shad | 0635 |
| ض | ﺽ | ﺿ | ـﻀ | ـﺾ | dhad | 0636 |
| ط | ﻁ | ﻃ | ـﻄ | ـﻂ | tho | 0637 |
| ظ | ﻅ | ﻇ | ـﻈ | ـﻆ | zho | 0638 |
| ع | ﻉ | ﻋ | ـﻌـ | ـﻊ | ain | 0639 |
| غ | ﻍ | ﻏ | ـﻐـ | ـﻎ | ghain | 063A |
| ڠ | ڠ | ڠـ | ـڠـ | ـڠ | nga | 06A0 |
| ف | ﻑ | ﻓ | ـﻔ | ـﻒ | fa | 0641 |
| ڤ | ﭪ | ﭬ | ـﭭ | ـﭫ | pa | 06A4 |
| ق | ﻕ | ﻗ | ـﻘ | ـﻖ | qaf | 0642 |
| ک | ک | ﻛ | ـﻜ | ـک | kaf | 06A9 |
| ݢ | ݢ | ڬـ | ـڬـ | ـݢ | ga | 0762 |
| ل | ﻝ | ﻟ | ـﻠ | ـﻞ | lam | 0644 |
| م | ﻡ | ﻣ | ـﻤ | ـﻢ | mim | 0645 |
| ن | ﻥ | ﻧ | ـﻨ | ـﻥ | nun | 0646 |
| و | ﻭ | ـو | wau | 0648 | ||
| ۏ | ۏ | ـۏ | va | 06CF | ||
| ه | ﻩ | ﻫ | ـﻬ | ﻪ | ha | 0647 |
| ي | ﻱ | ﻳ | ـﻴـ | ﻲ | ya | 064A |
| ڽ | ڽ | پـ | ـپـ | ـڽ | nya | 06BD |
| ء | ء | ء | hamzah | 0621 | ||
| أ | أ | ـأ | alif with hamzah above | 0623 | ||
| إ | إ | ـإ | alif with hamzah below | 0625 | ||
| ئ | ئ | ئـ | ــئـ | ـئ | ye with hamzah above | 0626 |
| لا | لا | لا | ــلا | ــلا | lam alif |
- Letters with no initial and middle forms adopt the isolated form, because they cannot be joined with other letter (ا، د، ذ، ر، ز، و، ۏ، ء)
- The letter hamzah is only present in isolated form in the Malay language.
Writing Jawi on a computer
To write Jawi, a user basically needs to have four components:- operating system
- keyboard to write the Jawi characters
- font that has Jawi characters
- software that supports right-to-left
Operating system
The operating system uses a rendering engine to render complex script.In Windows Vista
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
, 7, or XP
Windows XP
Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...
, this rendering engine is %WINDIR%\system32\usp10.dll. In XP, the usp10.dll is version 1.4 and doesn't support certain Jawi characters such as gaf. In Vista, the usp10.dll is version 1.61 and support all jawi characters. The latest technology is DirectWrite
DirectWrite
DirectWrite is a text-layout and glyph-rendering API by Microsoft. It was designed to replace GDI/GDI+ and Uniscribe for screen-oriented rendering and was shipped with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, as well as Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 DirectWrite is a text-layout and...
from Microsoft. It is a text layout and glyph-rendering API. It was designed to replace GDI/GDI+ and Uniscribe for screen-oriented rendering and was shipped with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, as well as Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.
In Mac OS X and Linux, the rendering process is different.
Keyboard layout
There is currently no standard Jawi keyboard layout. However, many users use a modified Arabic keyboard layout that has certain positions replaced with Jawi characters. One such keyboard is keyboard layout. One may also create custom keyboard layouts with dedicated software, such as MSKLC for Windows.The encoding for gaf is U+0762 (ݢ), not U+06AC (ڬ). The latter has a different final form, but is better supported in fonts and therefore often used as a substitute in local publications.
Some government bodies (SIRIM, UKM, UITM, UM, UTM, JAKIM, DBP) in Malaysia have proposed a standard Jawi keyboard layout based on the Arabic(Saudi Arabia).
Font
There are only few fonts that support the six extra characters in Jawi. Some of these are "Times New Roman", "Arabic Typesetting", "Scheherazade" and "Lateef Regular".Software
Most recent programs, as of 2009, support UnicodeUnicode
Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...
, including right-to-left writing. This includes all major office suites such as MS-OFFICE and OpenOffice.
Online transliteration
Online transliteration (Latin to Jawi) is available atOther issues
In Jawi, there is a character called "3/4 ء"(three-quarter ء). This hamzah is used in many Jawi words, however, there is currently no Unicode codepoint for 3/4 ء. Many users simply use the regular Arabic ء, and then shift the ء upwards.Further reading
- H.S. Paterson (& C.O. Blagden), 'An early Malay Inscription from 14th-century Terengganu', Journ. Mal. Br.R.A.S., II, 1924, pp. 258–263.
- R.O. Winstedt, A History of Malaya, revised ed. 1962, p. 40.
- J.G. de Casparis, Indonesian Paleography, 1975, p. 70-71.