how to read your shirt

Filasṭīn — the word فلسطين written once by hand in everyday ruqʿah script with a drawn underline, and the hand-lettered gloss «Palestine»

Ghazza — the word غزة written by hand in ruqʿah script, small, on a left sleeve, with the hand-lettered Latin name beside it

Arabic is written from right to left, and most letters join to their neighbours, so a word is one line with a few lifts of the pen. The hand on these garments is ruqʿah, the everyday handwriting of the Arab world — the hand of shopping lists and school exercise books. It is quick, it slopes, it flattens the teeth of some letters into a dash, and it is a little different every time. That is why it suits a drawing.

Here are the six letters of the word on drawing 08, right to left, the way you read them.

the six letters of فلسطين

ف · fāʾ · "f"

A small closed loop with one dot above it. In ruqʿah the loop is tight and the dot sits close, almost touching. It is the first letter, so it stands at the right-hand end of the word.

ل · lām · "l"

The tallest stroke in the word: a straight upright that turns at the foot into the next letter. No dots. On the shirt it is the stroke your eye finds first.

س · sīn · "s"

In print, sīn has three teeth. In ruqʿah it has none: it is written as a flat dash, a short level run of the pen. No dots. If you were expecting a comb, this is why you do not see one.

ط · ṭāʾ · a deep "t"

A closed bowl with an upright rising from it. In this hand the upright leans left by about ten degrees, as if the pen were moving fast. No dots.

ي · yāʾ · "ī"

A small tooth with two dots below it. Ruqʿah joins the two dots into one short dash under the letter — look for the dash, not two separate dots.

ن · nūn · "n"

The last letter: a low open bowl with one dot above. In ruqʿah the final bowl is shallow, like a saucer, and the dot sits over its mouth.

Read together: Fi-la-s-ṭī-n — Filasṭīn, Palestine. Under it on the shirt is one hand-drawn underline and, hanging from the right end, the word in Latin letters for the reader who cannot yet read the Arabic. Now you can.

These same six letters begin the name of this shop: فلسطين حرة, Filasṭīn ḥurra, which is freepalestine.wiki. Read the word on drawing 08 and you have read the first half of the name; the second half, حرة, is free. The name itself is never on the outside of a garment; it lives on the inside label alone.

why the dots matter

Several Arabic letters share one skeleton and differ only by their dots. The same tooth is b with one dot below, t with two above, th with three above, n with one above, ī with two below. A loop is f with one dot, q with two. The hook that is ʿayn becomes ghayn with one dot. A short descending stroke is r bare and z with a dot.

So a dot is not decoration. Take it away or move it and you have written a different letter and, often, a different word. That is why the dots on these drawings are the size they are — three millimetres, drawn as small rhombi the way a broad pen leaves them — and why a native reader checks every one before a garment is printed. On drawing 06 the six dots of the word zaytūn are drawn as six small olives. The pun only works because the dots must be there.

the ة in غزة

The sleeve print on drawing 13 is three letters: غ · ز · ة.

Ghayn, a hook with one dot above — without the dot it would be ʿayn. Zāy, a short descending stroke with one dot — without the dot it would be rāʾ. And the last letter, ة, tāʾ marbūṭa, "the tied t": a closed loop with two dots above. The same loop without its dots is hāʾ, a different letter, and غزه would be a different word. The two dots on that last letter are drawn slightly larger than the others on purpose. They are the design.

the words on the garments

Each garment carries at most one Arabic word or line. Here is what each says.

01 · صبر · ṣabr — patience; also the everyday name of the prickly pear. Three letters, no dots to lose except the one under the b. On drawing 01, under the cactus.
02 · مفتاح · miftāḥ — key. On drawing 02, under the key.
03 · الخط الأخضر · al-khaṭṭ al-akhḍar — the Green Line. Two words; the first is the line, the second the green. On the back of hoodie 03, beside the pencil.
04 · منذ حزيران ١٩٦٧ · mundhu Ḥuzayrān 1967 — since June 1967. Ḥuzayrān is the Levantine name for June. The digits are Arabic-Indic, written left to right inside the line, the way Arabic writes numbers. The first word, منذ, is the ordinary preposition since: the word a count begins with.
05 · ثمانية وسبعون عاماً · thamāniya wa-sabʿūn ʿāman — seventy-eight years, spelled out in words so that no digit sits inside the Arabic. Under the sum on drawing 05.
06 · زيتون · zaytūn — olives. Six dots, drawn as six olives. On the chest of hoodie 06.
07 · مرمية · maramiyya — sage, the sage of tea. Under the two glasses on drawing 07.
08 · فلسطين · Filasṭīn — Palestine. The word above, letter by letter.
09 · صمود · ṣumūd — steadfastness, staying. Four letters and not one dot: nothing can be misread. On the left chest of hoodie 09.
10 · برتقال يافا · burtuqāl Yāfā — Jaffa orange, literally orange of Yāfā, the city's Arabic name. Under the fruit on drawing 10.
11 · ع · ʿayn — one letter alone, the one that opens ʿarabī, "Arabic". Nine centimetres tall on drawing 11. A hook above, a bowl below, the tail flicking out where the pen left the page.
12 · سوسن · sawsan — iris. Under the flower on drawing 12.
13 · غزة · Ghazza — the place-name, on a sleeve. The three letters above.
14 · nothing. Six cross-stitches at the nape and no word at all. The craft they come from is taṭrīz, تطريز, embroidery — named here, not on the cloth.
فلسطين حرة · Filasṭīn ḥurra — "free palestine", literally. The name of the shop, printed on the inside label of every piece under the Latin wordmark, and nowhere else: not on a front, not on a back, not on a sleeve.