Hi Jack, you are wrong. I try to explain. You must pay attention that Farsi script is the same with Arabic one and often follows its rules in writing. One of the main rules of the Arabic language is the difference between Alef and Hamzeh and Farsi follows it in particular the words directly come from Arabic into Farsi.Just look at these words in Farsi: سؤال، مسأله،، تألم، مشمئز کننده، رأفت ، رؤوف،، مؤمن، شئ، اشیاء، رأی، رؤیت But sometimes we don't write Hamzeh in Farsi in some words for example بالاخره=بالأخره، رییس=رئیس، ملائم=ملایم، Although both of them is correct. Best Wishes,

I still don't understand why there is an alef next to the be in belakhare though. Is that a silent alef or something else. بالاخره I'm not talking about the second alef I mean the first one.

Hi Jack! There is no character like that in Farsi! This character belongs to Arabic and is pronounced as /e/ in English. We have only Alef with Hamze on the top! (أ). This character is pronounced as /æ/ in Arabic but in Farsi it is pronounced as Eyn (ع). Whenever you see Hamze (no matter on Alef or Ye or seeing it alone), just put an Eyn instead of it in your mind and read the word! The pronunciations of Hamze (ء) and Eyn (ع) in Farsi are exactly the same however in Arabic they are different.

Meanwhile, You should say the Hamzeh above the Alef not at the bottom.The hamzeh in Belakhareh placed above of alef as أ not at the bottom of it as إ