The Qur'an and Commentary
quran.com is a resource for the text of the Qur'an, with word-by-word searching, grammar, audio recitations, and interpretation into English
sunnah.com its sister site containing the six canonical sunni hadith, plus additional ones, searchable and with English translations
altafsir.com an unrelated site with a wide range of exegetical texts, chiefly in Arabic.
Background
- Encyclopaedia of Islam (Brill)Encyclopaedia of Islam Online (EI Online), published by Brill, consists of both the second edition AND the third edition. The search engine automatically searches both editions and offers the most recent results first in the list of hits.
Encyclopedia of the Qur'an by
A RUSA 2007 Outstanding Reference Title The Qur'an is the source of inspiration for one of the world's major religions, followed today by over a billion people. It plays a central role in Islam and ever since it appeared fourteen hundred years ago has been the subject of intense debate. Some of this has been carried out by Muslims and some by those hostile or indifferent to Islam, producing a very wide range of views. Authored bynbsp;forty-three international experts, the objective of The Qur'an: An Encyclopedia is to present this diversity of thought, approach and school without priority, in order to give a strong appreciation of the range of response that the text has provoked throughout its history and providing students and researchers with a powerful one-volume resource covering all aspects of the text and its reception. Islam and the Qur'an are much in the news today and there is a public debate going on in which things are said about the Qur'an without much knowledge or understanding of the book. Every effort has been made to help the reader use the Encyclopedia as an investigative tool in Quranic studies. The volume assumes no previous knowledge of the Qur'an, Islam or Arabic. Technical terms are explained in the text itself and the style of each entry is designed to be as self-contained as possible. Entries are cross-referenced and many include a brief bibliography. At the end of the work there is a substantial annotated bibliography providing a detailed guide to the most significant books, journals and articles in Qur'anic Studies. There is a full index. The readership will include those seeking basic information on the Qur'an, however the substantial number of longer entries means that it will also be used by specialists.
ISBN: 9780203176443Publication Date: 2006-05-02
Women and Veiling
For student research assignments: search for more about women and veiling at the Northeastern Library
Beyond the Veil by
"Required reading... " -- Elizabeth Fernea, The University of Texas at Austin "If a reader were to select only one book in order to gain insight into women's status and prospects in Islamic society, this study should be the one chosen for its clarity, honesty, depth of knowledge and thought-provoking qualities." -- Arab Book World In this expanded and updated edition, with a new introduction on Muslim women and fundamentalism, Mernissi argues that Islamic fundamentalism is in part a defense against recent changes in sex roles and perceptions of sexual identity.
ISBN: 0253311624Publication Date: 1987-04-01
The Islamic Veil: A Beginner's Guide by
Banned in public institutions in France and Turkey, mandatory in Saudi Arabia and Iran, no other item of clothing incites such furious reactions. The Islamic veil - a catch-all term that encompasses everything from a simple headscarf to the all-covering burqa - has, over the past decade, become a heated battleground for debates on everything from women's rights to multiculturalism. Elizabeth Bucar goes beyond the simplistic question of whether the veil is "good" or "bad" to ask instead why it has become so politically symbolic. Cutting through the condescension and fear that typify the debate, she reveals the huge diversity of women's experiences of veiling. Her illuminating global perspective takes in everything from the new veiling movement among the Egyptian middle class to hijab fashion in Indonesia. It will be invaluable to anyone looking to understand the veil beyond its status as shorthand for Islamic fundamentalism and female oppression.
ISBN: 9781851689286Publication Date: 2012-09-06
A Quiet Revolution by
In Cairo in the 1940s, Leila Ahmed was raised by a generation of women who never dressed in the veils and headscarves their mothers and grandmothers had worn. To them, these coverings seemed irrelevant to both modern life and Islamic piety. Today, however, the majority of Muslim women throughout the Islamic world again wear the veil. Why, Ahmed asks, did this change take root so swiftly, and what does this shift mean for women, Islam, and the West? When she began her study, Ahmed assumed that the veil's return indicated a backward step for Muslim women worldwide. What she discovered, however, in the stories of British colonial officials, young Muslim feminists, Arab nationalists, pious Islamic daughters, American Muslim immigrants, violent jihadists, and peaceful Islamic activists, confounded her expectations. Ahmed observed that Islamism, with its commitments to activism in the service of the poor and in pursuit of social justice, is the strain of Islam most easily and naturally merging with western democracies' own tradition of activism in the cause of justice and social change. It is often Islamists, even more than secular Muslims, who are at the forefront of such contemporary activist struggles as civil rights and women's rights. Ahmed's surprising conclusions represent a near reversal of her thinking on this topic. Richly insightful, intricately drawn, and passionately argued, this absorbing story of the veil's resurgence, from Egypt through Saudi Arabia and into the West, suggests a dramatically new portrait of contemporary Islam.
ISBN: 9780300170955Publication Date: 2011-04-29
