Hamzah or hamzatu l-qaṭˤi, https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315620091/1e85dcd9-67fa-4282-a164-2a1659972fa7/content/inline94.tif"/> means the cutting or disjunctive hamzah. Hamzah is considered to represent the first letter of the alphabet, and it has a full consonantal value like other consonants. (Arabic grammarians refer to ᵓalif as the ᵓalif hamzah.)