Hebrew alphabet . The Arabic letters generally (as six of the primary letters can have only two variants) have four forms, according to their place in the word. The same goes with the Mandaic ones, except for three of the 22 letters, which have only one form. In forms of Hebrew older than Modern Hebrew, כ״ף, בי״ת and פ״א can only be read "b", "k" and "p", respectively, at the beginning of a word, while they will have the sole value of "v", "kh" and "f" in a "sofit" (final) position, with few exceptions. In medial positions, both pronunciations are possible. In
Letters of the Living Abjad numerals system the letters of the Arabic alphabet are assigned numerical values. The Arabic letters h ح and y ي, which compose the Arabic singular adjective meaning "living" in the phrase Letters of the Living, add up to 18, and therefore the phrase "Letters of the Living" refers to the number 18. There is a similar symbolism about the numerical value of the corresponding Hebrew word in Judaism. The Báb referred to the 18 Letters of the Living, along with himself, as the first "Váḥid" of the Bayán Dispensation. In the Abjad numerical value of the word Wáḥid (واحد)