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The master prompt is the foundational layer of wobble-bibble’s prompt system. It contains universal rules that apply to all classical Islamic text translations, regardless of genre.

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What It’s For

The master prompt establishes:
  • Script constraints - Zero Arabic script except ﷺ
  • Transliteration standards - Full ALA-LC with diacritics
  • Output format - Plain text with segment ID preservation
  • Core negations - No sanitization, inference, or restructuring
  • Term definition rules - How to handle technical vocabulary
The master prompt is automatically stacked with specialized prompts. You rarely need to use it alone unless you’re creating custom add-ons.

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Access the Master Prompt

import { getPrompt, getMasterPrompt } from 'wobble-bibble';

// Method 1: Get as StackedPrompt object
const master = getPrompt('master_prompt');
console.log(master.isMaster); // true
console.log(master.content); // Full master prompt text

// Method 2: Get raw content directly
const masterText = getMasterPrompt();

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Critical Negations

The master prompt enforces eight hard constraints:
  1. NO SANITIZATION - Do not soften polemical terms
  2. NO META-TALK - Output translation only; no questions or commentary
  3. NO MARKDOWN - Plain text only; no formatting markup
  4. NO EMENDATION - Do not correct source typos or scribal errors
  5. NO INFERENCE - Do not fill in missing text
  6. NO RESTRUCTURING - Preserve original structure
  7. NO OPAQUE TRANSLITERATION - Must translate phrases into English
  8. NO INVENTED SEGMENTS - Do not create IDs not present in source

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Arabic Script Ban

The most critical rule in the master prompt is the SCRIPT LOCK:
Output must be 100% Latin script (ASCII + ALA-LC diacritics). Arabic script is forbidden everywhere - including inside quotes, brackets, parentheses, and citations. The only exception is ﷺ.

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Examples

Forbidden: 
Allah تعالى said...
The term فضل (favor) means...
He said "والله" (by Allah)...
Correct: 
Allah said...
The term faḍl (favor) means...
He said "by Allah"...

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Transliteration Standards

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ALA-LC Diacritics

Use full ALA-LC for Arabic-script names and terms:
  • Long vowels: ā ī ū
  • Emphatic consonants: ḥ ṣ ḍ ṭ ẓ
  • Hamza and ayn: ʾ ʿ

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Technical Term Format

On first occurrence, define terms with translit (English) format: 
bidʿah (innovation)
isnād (chain of transmission)
wājib (obligatory)

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Standardized Terms

TermRequired FormForbidden
Prophet MuhammadMuḥammadMuhammad, Mohamed
Islamic teacherShaykhSheikh
Holy bookQurʾānQuran, Koran
Islamic religionIslāmIslam
Prophetic reportḥadīthhadith, Hadith

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Allah vs. God

Special rule: Always use “Allah” (no diacritics) when the source uses الله. Never substitute “God” or “Allāh”.
Forbidden translations:
  • “God willing” → Use in shāʾ Allah
  • “By God” → Use by Allah
  • “Praise be to God” → Use al-ḥamdu li-Allah

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Locked Formulae

These phrases must never be translated - output the transliteration exactly:

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Greetings

  • al-salāmu ʿalaykum (NOT “peace be upon you”)
  • wa ʿalaykum al-salām

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Invocations

  • in shāʾ Allah (NOT “God willing”)
  • subḥān Allah (NOT “glory be to God”)
  • al-ḥamdu li-Allah (NOT “praise be to God”)
  • Allahu akbar (NOT “God is greatest”)
  • lā ilāha illā Allah (NOT “there is no god but God”)

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Output Format

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Segment ID Structure

Every translation line starts with: 
ID - Translation text
Critical: Use ASCII hyphen with spaces (-), NOT em-dash or en-dash. Examples: 
P405 - ʿAbd Allāh b. Yūsuf narrated to us...
P406 - The Prophet ﷺ said: "Whoever believes in Allah..."

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Multi-line Segments (Q&A)

For segments with speaker labels, output the ID only once: 
P5803 - Questioner: What is the ruling on smoking?
The Shaykh: It is prohibited due to its harm...
NOT: 
P5803 - Questioner: What is the ruling on smoking?
P5803 - The Shaykh: It is prohibited...

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Register & Style

  • Use modern academic English
  • Prefer modern auxiliaries (will/would, you/your)
  • No archaic King James-style phrasing
  • No ALL CAPS for emphasis
  • No emoji

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ID Integrity Rules

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Exact Match

Output must contain exactly the same Segment IDs as the source, in the same order, each appearing exactly once.

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No New IDs

Forbidden:
  • Inventing IDs like P123c, P123_cont, P123-part2
  • Adding placeholders for missing IDs
  • Creating “(continued)” segments

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Boundary Preservation

Translate only the text belonging to each segment. Do not:
  • Merge segments
  • Move lines across ID boundaries
  • Split segments into multiple IDs

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Final Script Sweep

Before emitting output, the master prompt requires a mandatory last pass:
  1. Scan every line for Arabic script (except ﷺ)
  2. If any appears, replace the full Arabic span:
    • Names/technical terms → Latin transliteration
    • All other spans → English
  3. Rescan line-by-line and globally
  4. Emit only when zero Arabic script remains

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When to Use Master Prompt Alone

Rarely. The master prompt is designed to be stacked with specialized add-ons. Use it alone only when:
  • Creating custom domain-specific add-ons
  • Translating texts that don’t fit any specialized category
  • Testing base-layer behavior

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Stack with Specialized Prompts

import { stackPrompts, getMasterPrompt } from 'wobble-bibble';

// Create custom stacked prompt
const customAddon = `
CUSTOM RULE: Preserve poetic meter...
`;

const stackedPrompt = stackPrompts(getMasterPrompt(), customAddon);

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Next Steps

Specialized Prompts

Explore domain-specific prompt add-ons

Prompt API

Learn the complete prompt management API

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