A scheme to write French in the Arabic alphabet.

The following letters are used:

Arabic letter (final-medial-initial isolated)	Phoneme	Equivalent latin grapheme	Arabic letter (final-medial-initial isolated)	Phoneme	Equivalent latin grapheme
ا ااا	/a/	a, â, à	ف ففف	/f/	f, ff, ph
ب ببب	/b/	b, bb	ص صصص	/ks/	x, xc, cc
ج ججج	/dʒ/	dg, dj, j	ق ققق	/g/	g, gu
د ددد	/d/	d, dd	ر ررر	/ʁ/	r, rr, rh
ه ههه	/e, ɛ/	é, è, ê, e, ë, ai, aî, ei	ش ششش	/ʃ/	ch, sh, sch, sc
و‎و‎و‎ و‎	/u/	ou, oû, où	ت تتت	/t/	t, tt, th
ز ززز	/z/	z, s, x	ظ ظظظ	/gz/	x, cz
ي ييي	/i, j/	i, y, ï, î, ill	چ چچچ	/tʃ/	tch, ch, tsh
ك ككك	/k/	c, cc, qu, q, k, ck, ch	ژ ژژژ	/ʒ/	j, g, ge
ل للل	/l/	l, ll	ڠ ڠڠڠ	/ŋ, ng/	ng
م ممم	/m/	m, mm	ڤ ڤڤڤ	/p/	p, pp, b
ن ننن	/n/	n, nn	ڽ ڽڽڽ	/ɲ/	gn
س سسس	/s/	s, ss, sc, c, ç, t, x	ۏ ۏۏۏ	/v/	v
ع ععع	/o, ɔ/	o, ô, au, eau

The twenty one letters on white background are taken from the standard Arabic alphabet, but are arranged in the traditional Abjadi order, which is closer to the alphabetic order used in the Latin and Greek alphabet than the modern Hija'i order is. The two letters on light grey background are taken from the Persian alphabet. The four letters on dark grey background are taken from the Jawi alphabet.

Letters taken from the standard Arabic alphabet have their expected pronunciation in MSA, with the following exceptions:
— ا /a/ and و /u/ consistently represent vowels.
— ه /e, ɛ/ and ع /o, ɔ/ represent vowels, analogous to the development of vowel letters in Ancient Greek, which used the phonician symbols for /h/ and /ʕ/ to create symbols for /e/ and /o/. There is also precedent for using ه as /e/ in the Arebica alphabet, formerly used to write Bosnian, as well as for using ع as a vowel symbol in several Iranian languages.
— ي represents /j/ in front of a vowel and /i/ otherwise.
— ص and ظ represent /ks/ and /gz/. This is analogous to Greek reinterpreting the Phonenician letters for /s/ and /sˤ/ as letters for /ks/ and /s/.
— ق represents /g/, as in many regional varieties of Arabic.
— ر represents /ʁ/, as French speakers map that phoneme to the /r/ of other languages.

The phonemes /tʃ/, /dʒ/ and /ŋ/ are not native to French vocabulary, but occure frequently in loans, notably English ones, and thus symbols have been provided to write them (note: some French speakers approximate /ŋ/ as /ng/ [ŋg]).

With the exception of the "weak e" (the epenthetic/deletable vowel of French, present in many clitics), which is not written, all the vowels are consistently written out. Diacritics are used to write the extra vowels not covered by the above symbols:

Arabic letter and diacritic	Phoneme	Equivalent latin grapheme
اً	/ɑ̃/	an, am, en, em, aon
هَ	/ɛ/	è, ê, ai, aî
هً	/ɛ̃/	in, im, ein, ain, aim, en
وِ	/y/	u, û
عُ	/o/	ô, au, eau
عِ	/ø, œ/	eu, eû, œu, ue
عً	/ɔ̃/	on, om
عٍ	/œ̃/	un, um

هَ /ɛ/ is only used in stressed, open syllables, as the distribution of /e/ and /ɛ/ is otherwise complementary. Likewise عُ /o/ is only used in stressed, closed syllables (except if the syllable ends with ز /z/, in which case it is not used), as the distribution of /o/ and /ɔ/ is otherwise complementary.

Since the distribution of /ø/ and /œ/ appears to be complementary but for a single minimal pair of questionable status, a single symbol عِ is used to cover both phonemes/sounds.

Finally, diacritics are also used in four special cases:

Arabic letter and diacritic	Phoneme	Equivalent latin grapheme
أ	/Ɂ, Ø/	h, Ø
يْ	/j/	ye, il, ille
يّ	/ij/	ill, ille, i
لأ	/lə/	le

أ is used for roots starting with a vowel or semi-vowel that prevent liaison or elision: اًأع "en haut" /ɑ̃(Ɂ)o/ (on top, up).

يْ is used for /j/ when not preceding a vowel: ابهيْ "abeille" /abɛj/ (bee) vs ابهي "abbaye" /abɛi/ (abbey).

يّ is used for the sequence /ij/: بيّار "billard" /bijaʁ/ (pool, snooker). Its use is also possible but optional where the original orthography indicates a sequence of occlusive/fricative + liquid + i: ڤريّه or ڤريه "prier" /pʁi(j)e/ (to pray).

لأ is used for the stressed clitic "le" occuring in some imperative forms: ديلأ "dis-le" /dilə/ (say it).

Miscelaneous: articles, demonstratives, determiners, relative pronouns, prepositions and verbal proclitics are written attached to the next word. Verbal enclitics are written attached to the preceding word. Liaison consonants are attached to the next word.

The sequence "oi" is rendered as وا /ua/.

The letters ص and ظ are only used within words, not over word boundaries: اصهَ "accès" /aksɛ/ (access) but سكسه "ce que c'est" /s(ə)k(ə)se/ (what it is).

Example texts:

.تو لهزهتر زوِمهً نهس ليبر زه هقع اًديڽيته ه اًدروا‎‎
.يلسعً دوه درهزعً ه دكعًسياًس ه دواۏ تاژير لهزعٍ اًۏهرلهزعُتر داًزعٍنهسڤري دفراتهرنيته

"Tous les êtres humains naissent libres et égaux en dignité et en droits.
Ils sont doués de raison et de conscience et doivent agir les uns envers les autres dans un esprit de fraternité."

ژهَ لعًتاً ابيته سودۏاست ڤعرتيك
،كلهسعلهيْ مارهً تهڽهَ دميل فعِ
،ه كلعِرقراً ڤيليه، دروا ه ماژهستوِعِ
.راًدهَ ڤارهيْ، لسوار، عقرعت بازالتيك

،لهأول، اًرولاً لهزيماژ دهسيعِ
مهلهَ دوِنفاسعً سعلعنهل ه ميستيك
لهتوڤوِيساً زاكعر دلعِرريش موِزيك
‎.عكولعِر دوِكوشاً رفلهته ڤارمهزيعِ‎

،سه لا كژهَ ۏهكوِ داًلهۏعلوِڤته كالم
عميليعِ دلازوِر، دهۏاق، دهسڤلاًدعِر
،ه دهزهسكلاۏ نوِ، تو تهًڤرهڽه دعدعِر

،كيمرافرهشيسهَ لفرعً اۏهك دهڤالم
ه دعً لوِنيك سوهً هتهَ داڤرعفعًدير
.لسكرهَ دولورعِ كيمفزهَ لاًقير

شارل بعدلهر، لاۏي اًتهريعِر

J'ai longtemps habité sous de vastes portiques
Que les soleils marins teignaient de mille feux
Et que leurs grands piliers, droits et majestueux,
Rendaient pareils, le soir, aux grottes basaltiques.

Les houles, en roulant les images des cieux,
Mêlaient d'une façon solennelle et mystique
Les tout-puissants accords de leur riche musique
Aux couleurs du couchant reflété par mes yeux.

C'est là que j'ai vécu dans les voluptés calmes,
Au milieu de l'azur, des vagues, des splendeurs
Et des esclaves nus, tout imprégnés d'odeurs,

Qui me rafraîchissaient le front avec des palmes,
Et dont l'unique soin était d'approfondir
Le secret douloureux qui me faisait languir.

Charles Baudelaire, la Vie antérieure