Hi, The arabic.el input method shipped with Emacs 23.1.1 (and is currently in CVS) is missing a few characters when compared to the keyboard layout mentioned in the same file. Also this input method directly inserts Lam-alef ligatures from the Arabic Presentation Forms ranges. This has the effect of contaminating files with characters that are strictly reserved for presentation purposes, and should not be inserted by keyboard. (For more information, see the relevant X.org bug.[1]) The attached patch addresses both these issues, i.e., it adds the missing characters; and it separates Lam-Alef ligatures into a list of two letters (Lam, and a suitable Alef). Footnotes: [1] https://bugs.launchpad.net/xorg-server/+bug/62587