Wait, So Ra's Al Ghul is Pronounced as Ray's Al Ghul?

[Karl O'Neill]

Ras Al Ghul.

[KurtW95]

[zur en arrh]

http://www.forvo.com/word/%D8%B1%D8%...9%84%E2%80%8E/

[sandwich eater]

Well, there we go. It's not Ray-sh at least. And we don't know that Denny wanted Raysh above having it pronounced correctly, maybe we should all right to him and see if he'd answer.

For what it's worth, Wiki says: Ra's al Ghul (Arabic: رأس الغول‎, Raʾs al-Ġūl "Demon's Head")
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ra%27s_al_Ghul

First a disclaimer, I cannot speak or understand Arabic, however I can read, write, and pronounce it phonetically. The Arabic text you posted looks like Ras al-ghul. I should point out that Ra's would be pronounced like it is in Batman Begins except that it would end in an s sound not a z. So it's pronounced "Ras." However, ghul does not have a hard g sound. In Arabic the sound "gh" comes from the back of the throat. The best way to describe it would be trying to gargle with no water in your mouth. I'm pretty sure that the English word "ghoul" actually comes from the Arabic word "ghul."

The link in the post above mine, is pretty good, but it inexplicably omits "al" which means "the" in Arabic; this may be a grammar issue, but I don't really know much about Arabic grammar.

I grew up watching Batman: TAS so in my head I still hear Raysh al-ghul when I see the it written in English. Ultimately I think the way to go would be for DC to publish a comic where Ra's explains that some Englishman pronounced his name incorrectly in the 19th century and the incorrect pronunciation has stuck with him when he is addressed by native English-speakers. That way we get to keep the pronunciation that we're used to, but we also acknowledge how it's correctly pronounced with the spelling provided on wikipedia. If this was Marvel I'd be asking for a no-prize.

[adkal]

Doesn't shaytaan essentially mean the devil, as in Satan, or is it used for both random demons and Satan?

Literally, it means 'one who has gone astray' and can be applied to men (and women), too.

Specifically, it refers to 'the devil', but it can also be used in reference to his cohorts.