ISLAMIC STUDIES
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About OBO: Islamic Studies
Islamic Studies examines the range of lived experiences and textual traditions of Muslims as they are articulated in various countries and regions throughout the world. This interdisciplinary field combines history, religion, philosophy, anthropology, Arabic language and literature, as well as literatures in other languages including Persian, Turkish, and Urdu. Because the field includes so many areas of inquiry, the research is wide-reaching in its response to new discoveries, interpretations, ideologies and theories. A great deal of this work has moved online, and there is a massive, ever-growing body of scholarship in print.
Tamara Sonn is the William R. Kenan Distinguished Professor of Humanities in the Department of Religious Studies at the College of William and Mary. She specializes in Islamic intellectual history and Islam in the contemporary world. She was senior editor of The Oxford Dictionary of Islam and associate editor of The Islamic World Past and Present. She is also editor in chief of Religion Compass, Blackwell’s online journal of religious studies, and a member of the editorial boards of the Muslim World, American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, and Studies in Contemporary Islam.
“The Internet makes access to endless amounts of information easy – but it also raises huge questions: Which sources are up-to-date and which are obsolete? What are the major issues and key developments in the field? Which works are pivotal in defining the discourse at various stages in its development? Which sources are considered accurate and balanced, and which represent simply a given individual or group’s position? These questions are important to keep in mind when undertaking any new study, but they are particularly critical in a contested field such as Islamic Studies – a highly contested area, to say the least.
That is why I am so enthusiastic about Oxford Bibliographies Online: Islamic Studies. Now people will be able to find expert guidance to the field in all its diversity and throughout its developmental stages. We commissioned the top scholars in the field of to outline their areas of expertise, so that users will understand how the field is organized and why it developed in the way it did. The authors provide descriptive introductions to each entry and subdivision within their outlines, and then present selective lists of the major sources. Each source is described in a brief annotation indicating what role it plays among the myriad sources available. The annotated bibliographies thus present a guided tour through the key literature on each topic, providing context for its development, and a balanced overview of the major issues within a given topic.”
- Michael B. Bishku, Augusta State University
- Jonathan Brown, University of Washington
- Natana DeLong-Bas, Boston College
- Walter Denny, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
- Clement M. Henry, University of Texas at Austin
- Marcia Hermansen, Loyola University Chicago
- Amir Hussain, Loyola Marymount University
- Oliver Leaman, University of Kentucky
- Andrew March, Yale University
- Yousef Meri, Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought
- Andrew J. Newman, The University of Edinburgh
- Frank Peters, New York University
- Andrew Rippin, University of Victoria
- Francis Robinson, Royal Holloway, University of London
- Abdulkader Tayob, Radboud University
- Nayereh Tohidi, California State University, Northridge
- Daniel Martin Varisco, Hofstra University
- John O.Voll, Georgetown University
- Fred von der Mehden, Rice University, Emeritus
ENTRIES AND CONTRIBUTORS
For a complete listing of entries and contributors, please click here.
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