Arabs are freaking out about this Arabic letter, here's why

Have we been writing the letter kaph wrong our entire lives? 

This viral Facebook post seems to suggest so. 

According to the post, the diacritic inside the kaph isn't really a hamza, but a smaller kaph inside a kaph. 

Arabs everywhere lost their sh*t and started freaking out in disbelief, not able to comprehend that they've been writing this one letter wrong their entire lives. 

It couldn't be, could it?

"11 years of studying and I just find our that the sign inside the 'kaph' is a smaller 'kaph' and not a 'hamza' ..." 

"We were blinded from the truth ... We are now being told that what's inside the 'kaph' is a smaller 'kaph' and not a 'hamza'" 

"Despite my passion for the Arabic language ... I never thought the discussion would one day tackle what's inside the 'kaph!'" 

"The story about the 'kaph' having a smaller 'kaph' and not a 'hamza'? Please stop it ... I've had  enough!" 

"The secrets of the Arabic language are countless, and many once thought that was inside the 'kaph' was a 'hamza', but the truth is, it's a smaller 'kaph' drawn to help distinguish it from the letter 'lam'" 

We need a linguistic source on this: The diacritic inside the 'kaph' is a smaller 'kaph' and not a 'hamza' ... It was drawn this way to differentiate the 'kaph' from the 'lam'" 

Hossam Mostapha Ibrahim, a writer who runs a page on Facebook that promotes correct writing, "Ektob Sa7," stepped in. 

He spoke with renowned Arabic calligraphist Mostapha al-Gazzar, and Mahmoud Abdelrazek Gomah, a writer from Tahrir News, who both confirmed that the initial post was correct. 

He also provided proof by showing the letters from the standard Microsoft Word font as well as a Youtube video of an Arabic calligraphist drawing the kaph. 

But, many didn't buy it, providing their own evidence from old calligraphy scripts. 

One such doubter is Ahmed Araby, a senior colorist. He presented proof from famed Turkish calligraphist Mohamed Ezzat's book.

In it, he says, the diacritic clearly looks like a hamza.  

He also presented texts by Mustafa Ben Ghazlan of the Egyptian Diwan where he used the so-called smaller kaph above the letter alef  instead of a hamza. 

The debate about how the letter is written is still ongoing, and no one really knows for certain what's true and what's not. One thing's for sure though, we should probably invest more time in learning, or more precisely, relearning Arabic.  

So how do you write the letter? And whose side are you on, the kaph or the hamza's?