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The Abjad numerals, also called Hisab al-Jummal (, ), are a decimal alphabetic numeral system/alphanumeric code, in which the 28 letters of the Arabic alphabet are assigned numerical values. They have been used in the Arab world since before the eighth century when positional Arabic numerals were adopted. In modern Arabic, the word (أَبْجَدِيَّة) means 'alphabet' in general.
In the Abjad system, the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, ʾalif, is used to represent 1; the second letter, bāʾ, 2, up to 9. Letters then represent the first nine intervals of 10s and those of the 100s: yāʾ for 10, kāf for 20, qāf for 100, ending with 1000.
The word abjad (أبجد) itself derives from the first four letters (A-B-G-D) of the Semitic alphabet, including the Aramaic alphabet, Hebrew alphabet, Phoenician alphabet, and other scripts for Semitic languages. These alphabets contained only 22 letters, stopping at taw, numerically equivalent to 400. The Arabic Abjad system continues at this point with letters not found in other alphabets: thāʾ = 500, khāʾ = 600, dhāl = 700, etc. Abjad numerals in Arabic are similar to the alphanumeric codes of Hebrew language gematria and Greek language isopsephy.
In the most common abjad sequence, loss of was compensated for by the split of ש into two independent Arabic letters, ش ( ) and ﺱ (), which moved up to take the place of .
The Mashriqi (common) abjad sequence, read from right to left, is:
| أ | |
| ʾ |
This is commonly vocalized as follows:
In the Maghrebian abjad sequence (quoted in apparently earliest authorities and considered older), loss of was compensated for by the split of צ into two independent Arabic letters, ض ( ) and ص (), which moved up to take the place of .
The Maghrebian abjad sequence, read from right to left, is:
| أ |
| ʾ |
which can be vocalized as:
Another vocalization is:
The common sequence, read from right to left, is:
| أ |
| ʾ |
Persian alphabet uses a slightly different Persian alphabet, in which و comes before ه instead of after it.
In the Maghrebian / order (replaced by the order), the sequence is:
| أ |
| ʾ |
In Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al-Hamdani's encyclopædia Kitāb al-Iklīl min akhbār al-Yaman wa-ansāb Ḥimyar (کتاب الإكليل من أخبار اليمن وأنساب حمير), the letter sequence (from right to left) is:
| أ |
| ʾ |
The abjad numbers are also used to assign numerical values to Arabic words for purposes of isopsephy. The common Islamic phrase بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم ('In the name of Allah, the most merciful, the most compassionate' – see Basmala) has a numeric value of 786 (from a letter-by-letter cumulative value of 2+60+40+1+30+30+5+1+30+200+8+40+50+1+30+200+8+10+40). The name Allah الله by itself has the value 66 (1+30+30+5).
Notice that some letters appear in their initial form and others in a ruqaa-like form, with the alif having a different shape.
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| ʾ / |
| ʿ |
In Maghrebian Abjad order:
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| ʾ / |
| ʿ |
For four Persian alphabet these values are used:
| ب |
| جـ |
| ز |
| ک |
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