The waṣla () or  (, 'hamza of connection') is a variant of the letter hamza () resembling part of the letter  () that is sometimes placed over the letter  at the beginning of the word (). The ʾalif with waṣla over it is called the  (, 'aleph of connection'). It indicates that the alif is not pronounced as a glottal stop (written as the hamza), but that the word is connected to the previous word (like liaison in French). Outside of vocalised liturgical texts, the  is usually not written.

Examples 
 
   () — And his daughter's name is Hind.
   () — He wants to read to one of his two daughters.
   () — What is your name?

References

Arabic letters
Arabic diacritics