Congratulations to Mark Davis for the Collation Charts. They look very fine.
My comment deals with the Arabic part of it.
Classical Arabic order of letters was formed in 7th-8th centuries in early
Quranic times. After Arabs spreaded Islam all over Iran and Persians adopted
the new religion, Persians due to some reasons changed the order of
letters. They've put Arabic Letter Heh U+0647 after Arabic Letter Waw
U+0648.
Then they themselves began spreading Islam to the rest of Iran, Middle
and/or Central Asia, to the East (contemporary Afghanistan, Pakistan,
India). The people of those regions adopted not only Islam and Arabic
alphabet, but some elements of Persian culture as well, including Persian
New Year ceremony called Nowruz and Persian Collation. (I think that Nowruz
and Persian Collation would be good correlates. Arabs in Arabic Countries
know nothing about Nowruz.) It was the first wave of spreading Persian
Collation in 8th-10th centuries from West to East.
The second wave began in 11th-13th centuries from East to West with Turks
and Mongols. They invaded first Middle and Central Asia and adopted there
Islam along with some elements of Persian culture. Then they gained Russia,
Iran, North-Western part of Asia (including Caucasus) and came as far as the
Balkans bringing Islam and there culture with them.
Thus, generally speaking, there must be two types of Collation for all
Arabic-based alphabets: Arabic and Persian. (Any feedback would
appreciated.)
From the point of view of Persian Collation there are other remarks on the
charts in http://www.unicode.org/charts/uca/.
1. After Arabic Letter Alef with Madda Above U+0622 must go Arabic Letter
Alef U+0627.
2. All letters containing Hamza (including Hamza itself U+0621) must go
after
Alef U+0627.
Thank you,
Vladimir Ivanov, iranorus@online.ru
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