Islam in Comparative Context: Online Resources
http://orias.berkeley.edu/Islam.html

---

Contents:

• General Information on Islam
• Maps of the Muslim World
• Women and Islam
• Islam in America
• Art and Architecture from the Islamic World
• Science and Medicine in the Islamic World
• Music From the Islamic World
• Folklore, myth, texts and stories
• Islamic Book Sources
• Islam en Español
• Films
• Miscellaneous Resources on the Middle East
• Nick Bartel's middle school resource page

General Information on Islam

• Islamic Networks Group provides information and speakers on Islam for schools. http://www.ing.org

• The Council on Islamic Education (CIE) provides a number of good on-line resources including a large glossary of Arabic and Islamic terms and an essay on teaching about Islam and Muslims in the schools in PDF format.

• ORIAS collaborated in an Interactive University Project with Nick Bartel and Marg Costello at Horace Mann Middle School in San Francisco to integrate technology into the 7th grade curriculum on Islam. The teachers have created a very helpful web page with their own class experiences and a thoughtful collection of links for student research. Of particular interest is Nick Bartel's virtual tour with Ibn Battuta. <http://www.sfusd.k12.ca.us/schwww/sch618/islam/teacher.html>.
  
  
• A comprehensive site on Islamic Studies, Arabic and Religion maintained by Dr. Alan Godlas at the University of Georgia

• Teaching Islamic Civilization with Information Technology, by Corinne Blake from The Journal for MultiMediaHistory Volume 1 Number 1 ~ Fall 1998

 
•  Islamicity is a dense site with a good reference section which concisely answers common questions and provides good visual illustrations. (Be patient, it loads slowly.) Their education page provides information on Understanding Islam, Culture and Arts, Contributions of Islamic (contributions related to architecture, calligraphy, history and mosques), History, and Science.

• Excellent on Chronology of early Islam. Part of the Exploring Ancient World Cultures (EAWC) site -- an on-line course supplement for students and teachers of the ancient and medieval worlds maintained by University of Evansville, Indiana.

• 100 Questions and Answers About Arab American: A Journalist Guide (by the Detroit Free Press) http://www.amalid.com/100_Questions.htm

Maps of the Muslim World Perry-Castañeda Library

---

• Muslim Distribution
• Islam in Africa 1987
• Asia
• Afghanistan: Ethnolinguistic Groups 1997 (281K)
• Middle East
• Maps Relating to Islam's Historical Development

Women And Islam

• "Why do Muslim women have to cover their heads?" Hijab: III&E Brochure Series (published by The Institute of Islamic Information and Education (III&E)

Islam in America

• Islamic Speaker's Bureau can provide speakers for schools and help arrange fieldtrips to local mosques.

• Muslim Student Association
  http://www.msa-national.org/
  
  
• Middle Eastern American Resources Online (MEARO)

Art and Architecture from the Islamic World

• Islamic Art Page at City of Light. This is a well-organized and diverse resource. City of Islam has a good site on Islamic Art as well.
  
  
• Mosques Around the World - paintings of 14 mosques around the world, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa to Xian, China.

• Tour the architecture of the Iranian city of Isfahan, declared to be one of the world's treasures by UNESCO. This is a wonderfully detailed and interactive site.

• Calligraphy is a very important art form in the Islamic world. Mamoun Sakkal has written four short articles on art of Arabic script and language , which are very informative and accessible. He even includes a page of Islamic clip art , which he allows to be reproduced for educational purposes.

• AskAsia has some good lesson plans, including one on Geometry and Islam: Religious Beliefs Made Visual .

Science and Medicine in the Islamic World

• The University of Michigan has a page on Medieval Islamic Scientists .
• The Islamicity site on Islamic contributions to science and mathematics.

Music From the Islamic World

• Good site for Palestinian songs both folk and popular.

• Fairuz - Musical Instruments from the Middle East is an excellent introduction for students and novices to musical instruments of the Middle East. Beyond the Middle East, the Ethnic Musical Instruments Company , while a commercial site, has good pictures of many of the instruments used throughout the Islamic world.

• David Brown has written two articles on specific instruments : Middle Eastern Oboes and Ouds .

Folklore, myth, primary source texts and stories

• ORIAS History Through Literature class page on Islam  at http://orias.berkeley.edu/islamlinks.html

     Koran
Notes on using the story of Joseph from the Koran (12th Sura), by Laurence Michalak, Vice-Chair of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, U.C. Berkeley.  As part of our technology workshop ORIAS has expanded on these study questions with examples from the texts at http://www.geocities.com/htl_c/nov20.html.

Electronic texts of the Koran
http://etext.virginia.edu/koran.html
http://purl.vt.edu/vtdocs/books/koran
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Horizon/7080/page_06.html#JOSEPH
Three translations of the Joseph story set side by side http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/012.qmt.html
Palestinian Proverbs, Tales and Poetry.  Under "stories" link the  "Ataba & Zarief E-ttool" tale comes with useful notes. Unfortunately it was written up by someone not quite fluent in English and needs to be rewritten for student use.

Nasreddin:

The Curriculum Vitae of Nasreddin Hodja
Nasreddin one-linershttp://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/u/tamulder/nasrudin.html
If you use Watermelons, Walnuts and theWisdom of Allah and Other Tales of the Hoca, by Barbara Walker, you might like to look at these modern Nasreddin anecdotes and encourage your students to invent their own.
http://www.wco.com/~altaf/nasrudin.html
http://www.wco.com/~altaf/nasru.html
http://www.wco.com/~altaf/nasru1.html
This on-line text for 1001 Nights by Sir Richard Francis Burton has an annotated table of contents and the warning that parts Burton's translation are unsuitable for children.

David K. Brown's Children's Literature site at the University of Calgary is a good general place to start looking for contemporary sources, folklore or fairy tale sites.  There is not much on longer heroic literature.

Internet Medieval Sourcebook: Primary sources from the Islamic world including literature and religious documents

Sayings of the Prophet.

Islamic Book/Film Sources

• Arab World and Islamic Resources - AWAIR

• Gren Street Books - recently released and classic books on Islam and the Muslim world.

• Online Islamic Bookstore

• South Asian Women's Network Booklist

• Middle Eastern American Resources Online (MEARO)

Islam en Español

• El Sagrado Corán

• Islam en un Vistazo.

• Los Principios del Islam : Abu Al'Ala Al-Maududi.

• Entre el Este y el Oeste : Abu Al-Hasan Al-Nadawi.

Films

• Film Notes by Louisa Moffitt (SERMEISS) at the MESA Annual Meeting Teacher's Workshop 2004
  http://orias.berkeley.edu/MESA/MESA2004-Films.htm
  
  
• Film Notes by Michael Fahy, CMENAS, U. of Michigan at the MESA Annual Meeting Teacher's Workshop 2001
  http://orias.berkeley.edu/MESA/MESA.htm#Films
  
  
• First Run/Icarus Films has an annotated catalogue selection for films and videos about Islam.
  http://www.frif.com/subjects/islam.html

Miscellaneous

On-line course in Arabic

Virtual Library of Middle Eastern Studies

All about Henna and why Mehndi (Henna Tattooing) is Trendy .

Database on Middle Eastern American Resources Online (MEARO)
A joint project of the UCLA Middle Eastern American Program based at the Center for Near Eastern Studies and the Middle East and Middle Eastern American Center at the Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY).

Back to ORIAS Home Page