This question might seem a bit strange, but I am curious to know why Allaah's Name ~ Ar-Rahmaan ~ is pronounced with..

As-salaam Alaikum wa rahmatuallaahi wa barakaatuh 

This question might seem a bit strange, but I am curious to know why  Allaah's Name ~ Ar-Rahmaan ~ is pronounced with  elongation and in Qur'aan it is written with elongation, but when we type it in standard Arabic fonts- (or write it out for that matter), we don't add the alif after the meem with fat-hah?  Allaah yazeedekum khair!

Answer

Wa alaikum assalaam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

It is not a strange question at all and probably many site visitors may wonder the same thing.  There are some spelling rules for writing the Qur’an that do have some exceptions, but can be taken as general rules.  The word  is written without an alif.  The small little alif you see in the word (called a dagger alif), is not part of the ‘Uthmani writing but part of the extra marking done by scholars to make the reading easier.  There are other words in which alifaat are pronounced but not written, for example in the Glorious name ; there is a pronounced alif after the laam with the shaddah.  Another word that has a pronounced alif not written is .  These are part of the rasm (writing) rules for the ‘Uthmani copy of the Qur’an which should be applied in all copies made of the Qur’an.  The small “dagger” alifaat are written in for our benefit by scholars later on, but as you can see they do not enter the word itself, but instead are written over it so not to affect the original writing. 

There are examples of words in the Glorious Qur’an in which other letters are pronounced and not written and you will also find them as small letters written in over the word for our benefit, such as the small  in: and the small  in: . 

 Wa iyyaakum.