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
Some 140 images enhance the articles in the site, with an ongoing update program planned to expand the coverage.
Timelines
A timeline documenting over 1000 historic moments in Islamic history – births, deaths, reigns, wars – is accompanied by a world history timeline to provide context.
Learning Resources
Students, teachers, and outreach professionals will benefit from this growing section, which includes an A-Z glossary; the full text of What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam; editorially selected and annotated links to off-site resources; with more to come.
Search and Browse by Era, Topic, and Region
With more than 3000 articles, as well as chapters, primary source documents, images, and maps, a wealth of information is available to you.
There are 10 main topics and over 30 sub-topics you can use to refine a search or you can simply browse all of the material related to a particular subject area. Click here to see the first page of Browse, with eras, main topics, and regional filter selections.
