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I've got a printout of the Arabic alphabet, reproduced below.
The trouble is when I look at certain words, I can't make out what letters are in there. For example, the Arabic word for camel is جمل.
But I can't find that first letter in my alphabet sheet. It doesn't resemble any of the letters.
So, are there "hidden" letters, or perhaps, are some letters shaped differently in different situations? Are there upper/lower case? What's going on?
Most of the letters have separate initial, medial and final forms. جمل is ج plus م plus ل. I suggest you look at an Arabic textbook.
Here you see the Arabic letters in isolated position, at the beginning of a word, in the middle and at the end of a word.
