• All Research Guides
• Religious Studies

• Jump To:
• Suggestions for Further Reading
• Reference Works
• Articles from Periodicals
• Web Resources

Islam

The following is a selected list of library resources for learning more about Islam. For further assistance, contact Paul Frantz, Religious Studies Librarian, at pfrantz@uoregon.edu.

Suggestions for Further Reading

Of the many books on Islam, the following offer good starting points:

• Quran

  • The Holy Quran, translated with commentary by Abdallah Yusuf Ali (Knight BP 109 .A39 1983)
  • The Quran and its exegesis, by Helmut Gatje (Knight BP 130.45 G313)

   

• Muhammad

  • Muhammad: a biography of the prophet, by Karen Armstrong (Knight BP 75 .A76 1993)
  • Muhammad and the origins of Islam, by F.E. Peters (Knight BP 75 .P4 1994)

   

• Hadith: sayings and deeds of Muhammad

  • Sahih al-Bukhari (Knight BP 135 .A124 E54 2000)
  • An introduction to the Hadith, by John Burton (Knight BP 135 .B79 1994)

   

• History

  • Oxford history of Islam, edited by John L. Esposito (Knight BP 50 .O95 1999)
  • A history of Islamic societies, by Ira Lapidus (Knight DS 35.63 .L37 2002)
  • A history of the Arab peoples, by Albert Hourani (Knight DS 37.7 .H67 1991)

   

• Contemporary Islam

  • Islam and modernity: transformation of an intellectual tradition, by Fazlur Rahman (Knight BP 42 .R33)
  • The Islamic threat: myth or reality, by John L. Esposito (Knight BP 60 .E84 1999)
  • Jihad: the trail of political Islam, by Gilles Kepel (Knight BP 173.7 .K453 2002)

And to read further in the field, consult ...

• The University of Oregon Library Catalog identifies books and other resources owned by the UO Library.
  Books on Islam can be found under the following call numbers: BP and DS 35-39.
• The Summit (Orbis Cascade) Union Catalog makes available more than 27,000,000 items from over 30 Pacific Northwest academic libraries.
• WorldCat provides access to library catalogs around the world and is most frequently used for obtaining books, manuscripts, conference proceedings, etc. through interlibrary loan.

Reference Works

• Oxford Dictionary of Islam, edited by John L. Esposito (Knight Reference BP 40 .O95 2003)
• Encyclopedia of Islam (Knight Reference DS 37 .E523)
• Concise encyclopedia of Islam, by Cyril Glasse (Knight Reference BP 40 .G42 2001)
• Encyclopaedia of the Quran (Knight Reference BP 133. E53 2001)
• Cambridge illustrated history of the Islamic world, edited by Francis Robinson (Knight Reference DS 35.63 .C35 1996)
• Oxford encylopedia of the modern Islamic world, edited by John L. Esposito (Knight Reference DS 35.93 .O95 1995)
• Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World, edited by Richard C. Martin (Knight Reference BP 40 .E525 2004)
• Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures, edited by Suad Joseph (Knight Reference HQ 1170 .E53 2003- )
• Encyclopedia of Religion, 2nd ed. (1st ed. in Knight Reference at BL 31 .E46 1986)
• Encyclopedia Britannica

Articles from Periodicals

To look for articles in academic journals or magazines, start with a periodical index. An index will allow you to find articles by subject, by a few keywords which describe your topic, or by author.

• Index Islamicus is a comprehensive index to articles on Islam in academic journals. The Library has print volumes with retrospective coverage for 1906-1985 at REFERENCE KNIGHT Z 7835 .M6. The Library has current coverage (in print) from 2002 to the present at REFERENCE KNIGHT Z 3013 .Q34
• ATLA Religion database indexes approximately 600 religious studies periodicals and multi-author books, with coverage back to 1949. The database includes prominent journals in Islamic studies.
• Academic Search Premier provides indexing and abstracting of about 8000 core journals in a variety of disciplines, including religious studies, and the fulltext for over 4600 journals.

You might also want to browse the following periodicals in Islamic studies. Current issues of these are arranged by call number in the Current Periodicals Room, Second Floor, Knight Library:

• Studia Islamica (Knight BP 1 .S8)
• Journal of Islamic studies (Knight DS 35.3 .J68)
• The Muslim world (Knight DS 36 .M7)
• Die Welt des Islams (Knight DS 36 .W4)

Web Resources

Of the many hundreds of web sites devoted to Islam, the following are among the best:

• Islamic studies, Islam, and Arabic is an excellent guide to primary sources and scholarly secondary sources on the web.
• Islam: Empire of faith is the website accompanying the PBS' television series.
• The Internet Sacred Text Archive: Islam provides a linked bibliography of complete books scanned into the archive. Both primary and secondary sources are included.