Bob Hallissy wrote:

> Can anyone give any information on this text? Obviously it is
> Arabic based.
> But can anyone pinpoint either the region of the world or the
> language?

The script is definitely standard Arabic, written with a ball-point pen.

I don't know much about Arabic calligraphy, but the writing looks like the
"childish hand" of illiterate people. E.g., my handwriting in Arabic is very
similar to that :-(

> Maybe even a translation? Also, any guesses what the first
> few characters
> in the highlighted text are? The sequence is present several times.

In Unicode: 0647 0650 0643 (or 06A9) 064E 0627 0020 0647 064E 06A0 0652 0646
064F 0648 0652

The key to identify the language is probably 06A0 (note: the 3 dots normally
become ^ in handwriting): "ARABIC LETTER AIN WITH THREE DOTS ABOVE" which,
according to the Unicode book, is only used in old Malay.

The pronunciation should be something like "hikaa ha?nuu", where "?" is
letter 06A9, whose sound I have no idea about.

_ Marco