Re: Sequential Fathatan Final Form (Items 9 and 10)

[Mete Kural <metekural at yahoo dot com>]

Salaam Mohammed,

>   I agree with you that since sequential fathatan
> are only used
>   in the Qur'an, the font can assume that the needed
> character
>   is the one in the image.
>   But my point is that they have to consistent with
> the regular
>   fathatan.
>   If I typed regular fathatan and then Alef, How can
> the font
>   decide if I want the form like in the image (where
> the fathatan
>   is as high as the end of the Alef), or the
> expected form for
>   regular text (where the fathatan is *just* above
> the previous
>   character not as high as the end of the Alef).

The phenomenon you are referring to - the variance in
the absolute positioning of superscript alef - is not
a graphemic matter, it is a calligraphic matter. The
typeface used in the King Fuad codex prefers to
position the superscript alef there whereas in other
codices the position the superscript alef may be
slightly different, and in regular everyday Arabic
text it can be just above the previous character.
These are calligraphic style issues. Unicode does not
encode calligraphic data, it encodes character data
(or graphemic data).

Font designers design different fonts for different
calligraphic styles. There are fonts for Naskh - and
there are many variances of Naskh - Nastaliq, Riqaa,
Kufic, and other calligraphic styles. The difference
between these calligraphic styles is not recorded at
the encoding level (i.e. Unicode level). These
differences are recorded at the font level (i.e. the
rendering domain). Unicode is not meant for encoding
calligraphic data.

In order to render Unicode Quran text 'exactly' like
the popular Quran mushaf that you find in your home
(King Fuad or the handwritten clone printed by
QuranComplex) you have to design a font typeface that
is exactly like it. And this typeface will have
differences from the typefaces found in the Ottoman,
Maghribi, or Rushdi Quran mushafs.

Personally for me, it is not crucial to design a
typeface that is exactly like the King Fuad mushaf.
The Quran is not dependent on the calligraphic style
used to write it, it is the content that matters most
to me. But I also see value in designing a typeface
that is like the King Fuad Quran since that is what
people are familiar with.

>  But in anyway, I didn't mean to offend you, we are
> all busy but
>  this issue is extremely important to me and I want
> my reply to
>  be reasonable that's why they are long, if I write
> short replies,
>  you will find them incomplete.

I understand. Yes the need to encode the Quran in
Unicode is also an extremely important issue for me
too. Insha'Allah we can propose a proper solution to
this problem together.

Kind regards,
Mete