Localization/Arabic
This article describes how to set up Arabic language environment.
Applications
Bidirectional text includes text direction support among applications. In particular, Firefox Ctrl+Shift+X
is the only supported shortcut for switching text direction.
Ayaspell offers Arabic spellchecking extensions for applications like LibreOffice, Firefox, and also system-wide dictionaries using hunspell-arAUR.
For Islamic utilities like Hijri date conversion and prayer times, check Islamic tools.
Libreoffice
- Enable Complex Text Layout: Tools > Options... > Language Settings > Languages > Default Languages for Documents.
- Install Ayaspell dictionary: Tools > Language > More Dictionaries Online > Arabic.
Fonts
Check Font configuration/Examples#Arabic for setting up font configuration. Persian fonts like vazirmatn-fontsAUR also include support for Arabic letters. A list of Persian fonts can be checked from Fonts#Persian.
- ttf-arabeyes-fontsAUR — Collection of free Arabic fonts
- ttf-ubuntu-arabicAUR
- ttf-dejavu-ibAUR
- ttf-qurancomplex-fontsAUR — Fonts by King Fahd Glorious Quran Printing Complex in al-Madinah al-Munawwarah
- ttf-sil-scheherazadeAUR — Unicode Arabic font from SIL (Alternative for Traditional Arabic font)
- ttf-sil-lateefAUR — Unicode Arabic font from SIL
- ttf-amiriAUR — A classical Arabic typeface in Naskh style pioneered by Amiria Press. Its Latin characters are based on Crimson (otf-crimson) [1] [2]
Troubleshooting
Common issues may be solved by checking Locale#Troubleshooting first. For problems related to text direction, check Bidi.
XKB Lam Alif problem
X keyboard layout sends Arabic ligature glyphs as a single glyph. For example, Laa+Alif ligature "لا" (U+0644, U+0627) is sent as "ﻻ" (U+FEFB), and similarly for (ﻷ، ﻵ، ﻹ). This is due to a known limitation in xkb which does not allow mapping a key to more than one character.
Workaround with X compose
The following solutions require X server restart. If you have im-config
installed, you can use im-config -n xim
. Alternatively, add the following to your environment variables:
XIM=none XIM_PROGRAM=/bin/true XIM_ARGS= GTK_IM_MODULE=xim QT_IM_MODULE=xim SHORT_DESC="X compose table"
However, since most QT-based programs do not have this issue, it is enough to add export GTK_IM_MODULE=xim
to ~/.xsessionrc
or ~/.xprofile
.
AltGr
key. The default compose table is located in /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/ara
.Workaround with ibus
- Set ibus as an input method by running
im-chooser
or by setting the environment variables:GTK_IM_MODULE=ibus; QT_IM_MODULE=ibus; XMODIFIERS=@im=ibus
- Run
ibus-daemon
oribus-setup
if ibus is not set up. - Use ar-kbd-m17n as ibus input method.
Fix Arabic legibility when using Noto Fonts
The Nastaliq Urdu fonts are chosen by default for Arabic. Use the following configuration to blacklist them, ensuring the system uses a proper Arabic font.
/etc/fonts/conf.d/66-noto-reject-nastaliq.conf
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM "urn:fontconfig:fonts.dtd"> <fontconfig> <selectfont> <rejectfont> <glob>/usr/share/fonts/noto/NotoNastaliq*</glob> </rejectfont> </selectfont> </fontconfig>