Arabic Small Damma

After a pause, it marks the alif's short “u” sound. In Iranian Qur'an editions that use this notation, the alif (the Arabic letter ا) is pronounced when a reader starts there; in continuous recitation, it is silent and the reading joins to the next letter.

Arabic short-vowel signs guide pronunciation. Small damma is the short-u member of a set with small fatha and small kasra, which mark other vowels.

Arabic vowel notation changed over time: early manuscripts used colored dots for short vowels, later systems used miniature letter shapes, and more economical signs took over. Iranian printed Qurans from 2003 show this exact small form; that date shows it existed by then, not when it began.

How is it different from ordinary damma?

It is a separate small Quranic mark. Ordinary damma ُ is the common short-“u” mark; small damma ؙ is a specialized cue for the recitation described above. Replacing it can erase an edition-specific distinction.

Some Qurans used in Arabic-speaking communities use Alef Wasla ٱ for a related initial-alif reading that Iranian editions mark with an alif and a small vowel. These are historically connected notations, but they are not interchangeable glyphs.

ؙ is a combining mark, meaning it attaches to a base letter and should sit beside it. Some Arabic fonts lack specialized Quranic signs, so a missing mark may be a font-support issue.