'normalization:
num=1  normalize diacritics
num=2  normalize initial hamza
num=3  both 1&2'

def norm(self, word, num=3):

    if (num == 1):
        word = self.re_short_vowels.sub(u'', word)
    elif (num == 2):
        word = self.re_initial_hamza.sub(u'\u0627', word)
    elif (num == 3):
        word = self.re_short_vowels.sub(u'', word)
        word = self.re_initial_hamza.sub(u'\u0627', word)
    return word
