Transliterations
W
hen using Persian terminology I have given preference to the
Kabuli (Dari) dialect rather than Iranian Persian since the former
is the official language of Afghanistan. The commonly accepted Dari mean-
ings for technical terms have also been preferred to their Iranian usages.
I do not differentiate between the several Arabic consonants which
are included in the Persian alphabet since Afghans do not do so in their
pronunciation, hence ‘s’, ‘z’, ‘t’ refer to various Arabic characters. Where
the final ‘h’ (heh) is silent it is not transliterated (hence Maimana not
Maimanah; daula not daulah), though I have used accepted English forms
where they exist, for example mullah rather than mullā; caliph not khalīfa;
shaikh not shaykh; Kandahar not Qand(a)har. However, I have preferred
wazīr to the anglicized vizier and the Mongol transliteration of Chinggis
Khan rather than Genghis Khan.
Standard Arabic transliterations for Islamic theological terms are
retained (for example, hadith, sunna), as are official titles of Afghan,
Indian, Pakistan, Turkish and other organizations and institutions, such
as Wolusi Jirga not Wulusi Jirga; Darul Uloom rather than Dar al-‘Ulum.
American English is only used in official titles (for example, Minister of
Defense) or when quoting from sources such as the State Department
or cia archives.
For stylistic purposes, in the main text, transliterations of foreign and
technical terms do not distinguish between long and short vowels, but
they are differentiated in the Glossary. The following rules apply:Consonants
English consonants correspond to their nearest Persian equivalent
pronunciations. There are three Persian consonants not found in stan-
dard English. They are transliterated as follows: qāf = q (ipa /q/) (qānūn,
qāzī); ghain = gh (as in French, ‘Français’); and khe = kh (Scottish ‘loch’).
In Iranian Persian qaf is pronounced gh but in Dari as q, and waw as a