The letter Ta marbuta, The tied ta, the ending that completes, the letter that only ever closes

What Ta marbuta encodes

The name says what it is. مربوطة, marbuta, means tied. The two dots belong to Ta; the round body belongs to Ha. In connected speech the ending is pronounced t, and in pause it is pronounced h, which is why it is written as both letters at once. It marks the feminine in Arabic, and it closes: رَحْمَة (rahma. Mercy), جَنَّة (janna. Garden), فَاطِمَة (Fatima). A word that ends in Ta marbuta has arrived somewhere.

Ibn Arabi and the Science of Letters

Ta marbuta is everywhere in the Qur'an as an ending, and never as an opening. It closes رَحْمَة, mercy; جَنَّة, the garden; سَاعَة, the hour. It is the letter of what is completed and enclosed rather than what begins.

Ta marbuta as the first letter

Ta marbuta never opens a name, so the reading below is of an ending rather than a beginning. A name closed by Ta marbuta is a name that completes itself. Whatever the earlier letters set in motion, this one gathers and ties. It is the most common ending among the feminine names in this collection, and it reads as arrival: not the journey, but the coming to rest at the end of it.

Ta marbuta in the Quran

Ta marbuta appears in the Qur'an only in final position. It never opens a word, never opens a verse, and never opens a surah.

Names opened or shaped by Ta marbuta

Each of the following names ends in Ta marbuta. The letter shapes how the name closes rather than how it opens. Click any name to read its full reading.

Letters whose principles interact meaningfully with Ta marbuta:

Ta marbuta joins only on the right, and only at the end of a word. Nothing follows it.

Ta marbuta is a sun letter. When the definite article ال (al-) comes before it, the l is not pronounced. It assimilates into Ta marbuta, which doubles instead. The word is still written with the ل, but you do not hear it. This is why الشمس is read ash-shams, not al-shams, and it is the reason these fourteen letters are called solar.