Introduction xxxiii Jabout Islam, one of the world’s most important
religions. To meet this challenge, the Encyclopedia
of Islam emphasizes the following subject areas in
the entries it contains:
- Islam as the religion of Muslims. This
includes entries on aspects of Islamic his-
tory, practice, belief, and learning, as well
as the major traditions—Sunnism, Shiism,
and Sufism. Topics concerning local Islamic
religious practices, in addition to expres-
sions of sacred space and time, are also
represented. - Islam as an Abrahamic religion. This area
includes entries that take up the interrela-
tionships and intersections that Islam has
had with Judaism and Christianity. Entries
also deal with Islam’s encounters with non-
Abrahamic religions, particularly Hinduism
and Buddhism. - Islamicate civilizations and cultures, includ-
ing articles pertaining to urban life, lan-
guages, social and economic life, and the
arts and sciences. - Islam in the contemporary world. This
includes entries on most countries with
Muslim-majority populations, reform and
revival moments, Islamism, regional con-
flicts (especially the Arab-Israeli conflicts
and the Gulf wars), and issues pertaining
to civil society (for example, secularism,
human rights, democracy, and constitu-
tionalism). Attention has also been given
to Muslim minority communities and
organizations in the Americas, Europe,
Australia, New Zealand, and, to a lesser
extent, Asia.
In order to enhance the encyclopedia’s appeal
for use by students and teachers in secondary
schools, a number of entries dealing with edu-
cational subjects have been included, as well
as articles on animals (camel, cat, dog, horse),
children, comic strips and comic books, and the
cinema.
Format
Articles are listed alphabetically. Cross-references
have been provided within and at the end of
each entry in small capitals to assist the reader to
explore the variety of relationships the entry has
with others. It is also intended to help the reader
become more familiar with the many foreign terms
encountered in the study of Islam. In some cases
an entry and related cross-references are based
on native terms (for example, Allah, fiqh, and
sharia); in other cases they are given in English
(for example, abortion, dietary laws, and women).
In the entry for Allah, for example, the reader is
invited to consult articles such as those on the
Quran, shahada, prayer, theology, and Muham-
mad. The entry for abortion refers the reader to
articles on topics such as death, afterlife, different
schools of Islamic law, children, and birth control
and family planning.
Each entry is also accompanied by a bibliogra-
phy for readers wishing to pursue a topic in more
depth. Publications listed in the bibliography are
exclusively in English, owing to the intended read-
ership of the encyclopedia, but readers are advised
that a significant amount of excellent scholarship
is available in other languages, especially French,
German, Russian, and, to a lesser extent, Spanish
and Italian. These and more specialized publica-
tions can be found in the books and articles men-
tioned in the individual entry bibliographies and in
the references listed in the bibliography provided
at the back of the book. Works in the primary
languages of Islam, such as Arabic, Persian, and
Turkish, can also be found in these publications,
but Islamic texts in translation have been included
in entry bibliographies, where appropriate. The
reader is also encouraged to consult the publica-
tions listed under the heading “General References
and Atlases” in the back of the book. Some entry
bibliographies include articles published in Saudi
Aramco World, a magazine available on the Inter-
net and in print that covers cultural and historical
topics relating to the Middle East and Islam. Its