Middle East & Islamic Studies Resources

Duke University has been collecting materials in the fields of Middle East and Islamic Studies for several decades in both Western and regional languages. Western language materials, especially those in English, have been extensively acquired. The Library purchases most English language books and journals directly relevant to Islamic studies. The Western language monographic collection provides ample coverage of canonical aspects of Islam, the religion’s history and development, its philosophical and scientific significance, as well its geographical expansion. Philosophical and historical studies are well represented, as are works on political Islam and its movements.

Duke has been steadily building collections in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish. Non-Western foreign language materials on Islamic studies, housed in the Divinity Library, include exegetical literature (tafsîr), collections of hadîth and related commentaries, works on Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) as well as collections of fatwas, and more general works on Islam. Duke participates in the Library of Congress acquisition programs for India (includes Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal), Pakistan and Afghanistan, and has built collections of over 250,000 volumes which include numerous works (both in English and regional vernaculars) in the field of Islamic studies. More recently, materials on Southeast Asia have been purchased.