Qoph

Qoph is the nineteenth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician qōp 𐤒, Hebrew qūp̄ ק‎, Aramaic qop 𐡒, Syriac qōp̄ ܩ, and Arabic qāf ق‎.

The Standard Arabic (MSA) combination of ⟨ج⟩ as a [d͡ʒ] and ⟨ق⟩ as a [q] does not occur in any natural modern dialect in the Arabian peninsula, which shows a strong correlation between the palatalization of ⟨ج⟩ to [d͡ʒ] and the pronunciation of the ⟨ق⟩ as a [ɡ] as shown in the table below: Notes: The Maghrebi style of writing qāf is different: having only a single point (dot) above; when the letter is isolated or word-final, it may sometimes become unpointed.

[13] The earliest Arabic manuscripts show qāf in several variants: pointed (above or below) or unpointed.

The letter represents /k/; i.e., no distinction is made between the pronunciations of Qof and Kaph with Dagesh (in modern Hebrew).

In Arabic the emphatics are pharyngealised and this causes a preference for back vowels, this is not shown in Hebrew orthography.

Needle from Ancient Egypt, 13th–10th century BC
The Maghribi quran manuscript renders qāf and fāʼ differently than elsewhere would