Library Resources for Religious Studies 107: Introduction to Islam
The CAT | Finding & requesting materials from other libraries | Encyclopedias and General Reference Works | Dictionaries of Islamic Terms | Concordance | Journals and Academic Articles
The CAT: Penn State's online library catalog
Find books and other materials at Penn State by searching in the CAT (the online catalog). Begin your search by choosing the BROWSE page to search by title, or the KEYWORD page to search for books on your topic. For more info on searching the CAT, click here .
Finding and requesting materials from other libraries
- Virtual Electronic Library (VEL) : The combined catalog of the CIC libraries
- WorldCat : Holdings of over 65,000 libraries worldwide
- EZ Borrow (PALCI) : combined catalogs of Pennsylvania academic and research libraries
- ILLiad: University Libraries' online Interlibrary Loan system at
Encyclopedias and General Reference Works
CD-ROMs: These texts are available in CD-ROM format at the Arts and Humanities Library Reference Desk, second floor, central Pattee Library.
Gale Virtual Reference Library: These texts are available to Penn State users through LIAS. Click on the E-Resource List and select “Gale Virtual Library.” Next to the word “Religions” click ‘view publications‘ and then the text of your choice. You can search the entire text online using either the E-Table of Contents or the E-Index. The page also includes how to properly cite these online sources.
Encyclopedia of the Qur'an
Call #
BP133.E53 2001,
Arts & Humanities, Pattee, Stacks 2 - Reference Collection
- “Rigorous, academic scholarship on the Qur'an that grows from a plurality of perspectives and presuppositions”
- Covers ideas in the Qur‘an e.g. “Justice and Injustice” and “Miracles” focusing on relevant Arabic terms
- Covers topics about the Qur‘an e.g. “Manuscripts of the Qur‘an”
- “Makes the world of Qur'anic studies accessible to a very broad range of academic scholars and educated readers”, great for any level of study
Encyclopedia of Religion
Call #
BL31.E46 2005,
Arts & Humanities, Pattee, Stacks 2 - Reference Collection
- “Concise, clear, and objective description of the totality of human experiences of the sacred” that avoids “reductionism and Western cultural bias”
- Covers concepts thematic through all religions e.g. “Revelation” and “Scripture” and sets Islamic ideas in broader context of religious patterns
- Covers specifically Islamic topics e.g. “Muhammad” and “Qur‘an”
- Accessible and easy to use, great for any level of study
- Also available as CD-ROM(CD) and online(Gale)
Encyclopedia of Islam
Call #DS37.E523, Arts & Humanities, Pattee, Stacks 2 - Reference
Also availabel online
- Widely considered the original standard for comprehensive reference material on Islam
- Subject headings are in Arabic transliterated into English letters e.g. article on Holy Law of Islam found under “Shar'ia”, article on interpretation of the Qur‘an found under “Tafsir”
- Covers whole Muslim world, including geographic, demographic and political information
- Fantastic articles on Muhammad and “Kur‘an”, great for any level of study
- Most articles detailed, technical scholarship, great for graduate students and specialists
- Also available as CD-ROM
Shorter Encyclopedia of Islam
Call # DS37.E52 1953, Arts & Humanities, Pattee, Stacks 2 - Reference Collection
- Condensed version of the Encyclopedia of Islam that contains “all the articles in the…Encyclopedia of Islam which relate particularly to the religion and law of Islam.”
Islamic Desk Reference
Call # DS35.53.I83 1994, Arts & Humanities, Pattee, Stacks 2 - Reference Collection
- “presents the reader with a condensation of the subject-matter of the Encyclopedia of Islam in brief, orderly, and intelligible form.”
- Dictionary of terms offering extended definitions drawn from the Encyclopedia of Islam, does not contain whole articles
The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World
Call #DS35.53.O95 1995,
Arts & Humanities, Pattee, Stacks 2 - Reference Collection
- Focuses on Islam in the modern period, roughly from the end of the 18 th century
- “Relies on methodologies of the social sciences including sociology, anthropology, economics and political science”
- Covers modern issues e.g. “Terrorism” and classic subjects e.g. “Qur‘an” and “Muhammad”
- Great for any level of study
Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World
Call #
BP40.E525
2004 (v.1 & v.2),
Arts & Humanities, Pattee, Stacks 2 - Reference Collection
- Complementary project to Encyclopedia of Islam to discuss “information about Islam in the 21 st century that is not discussed in the older sources.”
- Covers contemporary people and issues e.g. “Usama bin Laden”, “Terrorism”
- Great for any level of study
- Only available online (Gale)
Dictionaries of Islamic Terms
A Popular Dictionary of Islam
Call #BP40.N48 1997, Arts & Humanities, Pattee, Stacks 2 - Reference Collection
- Dictionary of Islamic terms
- Great to identify unfamiliar Islamic terms e.g. “ijtihad = the exercise of independent judgment”
Concise
Encyclopedia
of Islam
Call #BP40.N48 2002, Arts & Humanities, Pattee, 2nd Floor - Ready Reference
- Dictionary of Islamic terms
- Found on “ready reference” shelves behind Arts and Humanities desk in Pattee.
- Not related to Encyclopedia of Islam
Concordance
A Concordance of the Qur‘an
Call #BP133.K37 1983, Arts & Humanities, Pattee, Stacks 2 - Reference Collection
- Reference work that organizes all the occurrences of each word in the Qur'an
- Divided into two parts, each with a separate index – Part I “Terms Associated with the Divine Name” and Part 2 “Remaining Vocabulary in the Qur‘an”
- Organization of entries based on the Arabic root of words found in the Qur‘an
- Introduction includes a detailed explanation of how English-only speakers can use this tool
- Invaluable for in-depth, technical analysis of Qur‘an text, great for graduate students and specialists
Qur'an Recitations
- Free recitation of Qur‘an, must have RealPlayer Audio
- Choose Sura (chapter) and Ayat (verse) in Upper left of screen for written translations in English, Turkish, French, German, and Spanish
- Click on graphic of Ayat to hear Ayat
- Click on “Recite entire Sura” in upper left of screen to hear Sura
- For computers in Library, remember to turn off mute and turn up volume
Holy Qur'an: a multimedia presentation of Islam's Holy Book (CD-ROM)
Call #BP109 1995b, Arts & Humanities, West Pattee 2nd Flr-Music & Media Center
- 30 Hour Recitation of Qur‘an, can skip to any place in text
- Written translations of text in English, French, German, Persian, Spanish, Turkish
- Must go to Music and Media Center in Pattee to obtain this CD-ROM
- Insert CD-ROM, open My Computer, open CD-ROM drive, double-click on “Setup”
- Remember to turn off mute and turn up volume
Journals and Academic Articles
E-Resource List: These resources are found on the Libraries' web site at (http://www.libraries.psu.edu/). Click on the E-Resource List and search for the title of the resource you are looking for.
SFX: These resources feature the Penn State Library “Get It” button a.k.a. SFX software. If the article you are looking for is not available in full-text, look for and click the “Get It” button or SFX logo. It will search all of the Library's online and print sources for your article. If the article is not available, it will provide a link to the ILLiad (inter-library loan system).
Citation Linker: If the “Get It” button is unavailable, the Citation Linker will serve the same purpose. Enter the full title of the article and the journal it is found in, and the Citation Linker will search all the Library's online and print sources for it. If the article is not available, it will provide a link to the ILLiad. Access the Citation Linker through the library home page under “Find articles.”
- Features the full-text articles of important scholarly journals covering an enormous range of academic disciplines
- Does not carry current or recent issues, but archives past issues, sometimes for decades
- On home page, click Browse, then “Middle East Studies” or “Religion” to see journals likely to be of interest
- Best resource available for finding academic articles
- Found on E-Resource List
ProQuest Direct (newspapers, magazines, business)
- Database of newspapers, magazines, and journals, covering current news stories and recent events
- In advance search option, can limit search to scholarly, peer-reviewed articles and full-text articles available directly on ProQuest
- Features “Get It” Button (SFX) for articles that are not full-text
- Found on E-Resource List
IBZ (International Bibliography of Periodical Literature)
- “International and interdisciplinary bibliography of academic periodical literature mainly from the Humanities, Social Sciences and Arts”
- Contains foreign articles, especially in German, not available in other journal databases
- Home page in German, click English flag in upper left corner for English version
- Limit your search to articles in English with advanced search option
- Includes no full-text articles, features SFX logo button (SFX) for all articles
- Found on E-Resource List
FRANCIS (International Humanities and Social Sciences)
- Database of articles strong in religion, the history of art, psychology, and literature, with particular emphasis on current trends in European and world literature
- Contains foreign articles, especially from France , not available in other journal databases
- Limit your search to articles in English with advanced search option
- Includes no full-text articles, features SFX logo button (SFX) for all articles
- Found on E-Resource List
Index Islamicus
Call #
Z7835.M6L62 1906-1997,
Arts & Humanities, Pattee, 2nd Floor - Ready Reference
- “International bibliography of publications in European languages on all aspects of Islam and the Muslim world since 1906”
- Contains bibliographic information for every article written in Islamic Studies
- Organized by subject headings
- This is a print source and contains no full-text articles, must use Citation Linker to find articles
This page is under development. Send comments, questions, and suggestions to Eric Novotny, Humanities Librarian for History, at ecn1@psu.edu ; IM: HistoryLibrarian.