wasla

Also known as hamzatu l-waṣli, waṣla

The waṣla () or '''''' (, 'hamza of connection') is a variant of the letter hamza () resembling part of the letter tsade| () that is sometimes placed over the letter aleph| at the beginning of the word (). The ʾalif with waṣla over it is called the (, 'aleph of connection'). It indicates that the alif is not pronounced as a glottal stop (written as the hamza), but that the word is connected to the previous word (like liaison in French). Outside of vocalised liturgical texts, the is usually not written.