How many letters are in the Arabic alphabet, and is the first of them the alif or the hamza?

The number of Arabic alphabet letters is 28 if the alif maddah (long vowel alif) and the hamza are considered as one letter. However, the correct number is 29 letters because each has an independent point of articulation (makhraj). The alif maddah's point of articulation is the empty space in the mouth and throat (al-jawf), and the hamza's is the deepest part of the throat (aqṣa al-ḥalq). Abu Amr al-Dani stated that the letters are twenty-nine, the first of which is alif and the last is ya. The alif precedes because it is a representation of the preceding hamza, and it shares with waw and ya the characteristic of being a representation of itself or of the medial and final hamza.