What's Inside
Oxford Islamic Studies Online brings together the work of the world's leading scholars to provide users with the most comprehensive, up-to-date, and authoritative online resource in the field.
A-Z Subject Entries
Containing over 3,000 reference articles, from the history of the Abbasid Caliphate, to Zurkhanah, the traditional Iranian gymnasium devoted to development of spiritual as well as physical strength, these entries cover Islam on a global scale, including the countries of Africa and the Middle East, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Americas, and beyond.
Biographies
The site contains hundreds of entries on the men and women who have made an impact on the Islamic world over the centuries, from the Prophet Muhammad, the founder of the faith, to path-breaking Muslim feminists such as Fatima Mernissi.
Chaptered Works
The Oxford History of Islam features detailed topical chapters by leading Muslim and non-Muslim scholars, covering the origins and historical development of Islam--its faith, community, institutions, sciences, and arts. In addition, the question-and-answer based What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam provides a useful guide to the beliefs and lifestyles of contemporary Muslims around the world.
Primary Source Documents
Including editorial introductions to provide context, these documents have been drawn from books, speeches, fatwas, historic statements posted on Arabic internet sites, and key perspectives from activists and leading scholars on the Qur'an. Materials range from Qasim Amin's revolutionary late 19th-century writings on "The Emancipation of Woman" to Osama bin Laden's 1998 fatwa against the United States.
Qur'anic Studies Resources
The Qur'an is made accessible by means of numerous tools, with references to Qur'anic chapters and verses linked to the Qur'an; a verse look-up tool, and for in-depth study, two interpretations of the Qur'an—a verse edition from A.J. Arberry and a modern prose version from M.A.S. Abdel Haleem—which can be read alone, side by side, or in combination with the first electronic version of A Concordance of the Qur'an, a unique reference that links English words and their corresponding transliterated Arabic terms to passages, chapters and verses in the Qur'an.
Click here to view a side-by-side display of Qur'ans used in conjunction with the Concordance.
Images and Maps
Designed to offer visual perspectives on global Islam, some 300 images enhance the articles in the site, with an ongoing update program to expand the coverage. Geographic resources now include over 40 full-color maps and 20 articles from the latest edition of the Atlas of the World's Religions.
Timelines
There are two timelines for reference and context: the primary timeline documents over 1000 historic moments in Islamic history—births, deaths, reigns, wars—with links to related site content. This timeline of Islamic history can be viewed alone, or side-by-side with a general world history timeline of events at corresponding periods. The two timeslines, viewed together can provide context and perspective on the role of Islam in global affairs.
Learning Resources
Students, teachers, and outreach professionals will benefit from this growing section, which now includes The Geography of the Islamic World, a page with thematically organized links to the articles and maps from the latest edition of the Atlas of the World's Religions; an A-Z glossary; the question-and-answer guide What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam; editorially selected and annotated links to off-site internet resources; and lists of suggested further readings about Islam and the Qur'an.
Search and Browse by Era, Topic, and Region
Search and Browse provide valuable research tools designed to allow for efficient use of well over 3500 articles, chapters, primary source documents, images, and maps. The full wealth of reference information available on this site can be sorted by content type, as well as 10 main topics and over 30 sub-topics. All users can explore the listings in the Browse area, and view eras, main topics, and regional filter selections.
Archived Articles
As a special feature on Oxford Islamic Studies Online, when content from The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World updates articles in The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World, the latter continue to be accessible as "Archives." Archived articles can be located via Browse and advanced search forms, allowing users to compare perspectives on Islam between 1995 and the present, and conduct other types of in-depth research.
