The letter "ا" (Alif) is the first (1) letter in both the Arabic alphabetical and abjad order, as well as the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet and most languages that branched from Semitic languages. It is pronounced as ‎[ʔ]‏ with a glottal stop, i.e., a hamzah if it is not followed by a prolongation, for example: أسد (lion), and pronounced as ‎[a]‏ with an open front unrounded vowel, i.e., an Alif if it is followed by a prolongation, for example: قرآن (Quran). Its value equals (1) in the Abjad numeral system.