Sun and moon letters - what is this division?

In Arabic, written letters are consonants (except ا و ي, which can be also long vowels). They are divided into two groups. The first group is called sun letters (حُرُوفٌ شَمْسِيَّةٌ) and the second group is called moon letters (حُرُوفٌ قَمَرِيَّةٌ). What characterizes them and how are they distinguished? Sun letters are characterized by the fact that they “transform” the letter ل of the article ال into the letter standing behind it. For example, instead of reading the word الشَمْسُ al-shamsu, we will read it ash-shamsu because the sun letter is here. If there was a moon letter at the beginning, for example, الجَامِعَةُ, then we would read this word al-jaamiAtu. Unfortunately, there is no unique way to recognize sun and moon letters. You have to learn them by heart, but it’s only 14 letters!

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