Guideline Rules for writing Arabic IDNs under the IDN ccTLD (.السعودية) 

This document identifies all allowed code points to be used when registering a domain name within the IDN ccTLD (.السعودية) that was designated for the Arabic domain names in Saudi Arabia. This document also sets a number of guideline rules that help to write Arabic domain names correctly, taking into account issues related to the Arabic language as well as the Arabic script.

Guideline Rules for writing Arabic IDNs under the IDN ccTLD (.السعودية)

Version 1.2 Date 1/1/1432 AH 07/12/2010

Introduction

This document identifies all allowed code points to be used when registering a domain name within the IDN ccTLD (.السعودية) that was designated for the Arabic domain names in Saudi Arabia. This document also sets a number of guideline rules that help to write Arabic domain names correctly, taking into account issues related to the Arabic language as well as the Arabic script. The terms and expressions used in this document shall have the same definitions and meanings as in the Saudi Domain Names Registration Regulation document.

I. Permitted Characters and Symbols in writing an Arabic Label

Recommendations outlined in the RFC 5564 entitled: “Linguistic Guidelines for the Use of the Arabic Language in Internet Domains” will be followed. They are in line with the specifications put together and agreed upon by the Arab Team for domain names and Internet affairs, which operates under the umbrella of the League of Arab States.

It is an Arabic specification that SaudiNIC had participated majorly in drafting. It contains some recommendations for linguistic issues related to Arabic domain names and its language table. It is available on the following link: http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5564.

Accordingly, the following characters and symbols (based on the Unicode standard) are the only permitted characters and symbols to be used in writing Arabic label under the IDN ccTLD (.السعودية):

Arabic Unicode Table

II: Guideline Rules for writing Arabic Labels

Rule 1: Diacritics

Diacritics are not allowed , Examples :

سَجّل.السعودية
سجل.السعودية

Rule 2: Mixing scripts

No mixing between scripts (Arabic & Latin), Examples :

موقع-SaudiNIC.السعودية
SaudiNIC.السعودية

Rule 3: Use of hyphen

Use of hyphen (instead of space) between words particularly if the 2 words will get connected , Examples :

هيئةالاتصالات.السعودية
هيئة-الاتصالات.السعودية
مدارس-خيف.السعودية
مدارسخيف.السعودية

Rule 4: Hyphen position

Hyphen cannot be used at the beginning or end of a label, and 2 or more consecutive hyphens are not allowed, Examples :

-هيئةالاتصالات.السعودية
هيئةالاتصالات-.السعودية
هيئة--الاتصالات.السعودية

Rule 5: Using digits

  • Digits cannot be used at the beginning or end of a label Digits can be used inside a label from the 2 sets Arabic-Indic digits (٠،١،٢،٣،٤،٥،٦،٧،٨،٩) and Arabic digits (0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9) without mixing. Examples:
999.السعودية
اتصل٩٩٩.السعودية
9٩9للنجدة.السعودية
اتصل٩9٩للنجدة.السعودية
اتصل999للنجدة.السعودية
  • It is permitted to register other variants of the domain name that can be formulated just by changing the digit set. Examples:
اتصل٩٩٩للنجدة.السعودية

Rule 6: Variants

After registering a domain that contains one or more variant letters, which are:

  • ي، ى - ALEF MAKSURA and YEH at the end of a word.
  • ا، أ، إ، آ All forms of ALEF (ALEF, ALEF WITH MADDA ABOVE, ALEF WITH HAMZA ABOVE, and ALEF WITH HAMZA BELOW).
  • ه، ة TEH MARBUTA and THE at the end of word.

It is permitted to register the other variants names that can be created just by changing the confusingly similar characters provided that it does not infringe on the rights of others.

Example, for the following domain

شبكة-الأخبار.السعودية

It is permitted to register the other variants taking care of the consequences of the abovementioned condition. Examples:

شبكة-الاخبار.السعودية Accepted with conditions
شبكه-الأخبار.السعودية Accepted with conditions
شبكه-الاخبار.السعودية Accepted with conditions

Rule 7: Similarity to other languages

It is permitted to register the Variants within the Arabic Script that will allow the Arabic domain names to be used globally despite the fact that some other languages that use the Arabic script (such as Urdu, Farsi, Pashto, ...) might have characters that lock confusingly similar to some of the Arabic characters. This also takes care of the problem of having different input devices (e.g., keyboards) used within the Arabic script communities. SaudiNIC will provide an appropriate mechanism for dealing with domain names variants and it will enable access to the Arabic domain names even if they contained confusingly similar characters from languages that uses Arabic script (such as Farsi and Urdu).

Examples, for the following domain:

مكة.السعودية (all characters are from the Arabic Language).

The following variants can be enabled:

مكة.السعودية (the letter KAF and THE MARBUTA are from Farsi).
مكة.السعودية (the letter KAF and THE MARBUTA are from Urdu).