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Brill's Encyclopædia of the Qur'ān (EQ) combines alphabetically-arranged articles about the contents of the Qur'ān. It is an encyclopædic dictionary of Qur'ānic terms, concepts, personalities, place names, cultural history and exegesis extended with essays on the most important themes and subjects within qur'ānic studies. The EQ online contains the complete articles of the printed volumes 1 to 5.

Please note: This database is for the use of Duke faculty, students, and staff only. If you are attempting to use this resource from off-Campus, you will need to install the VPN client.     > More...

Useful Databases

Encyclopedia of Islam

The Encyclopaedia of Islam Online represents a major resource in Middle Eastern and Islamic studies, with the online version bringing remote access to over 13,000 articles. The online edition includes access to all the material found in the the English print edition - the main volumes as well as the supplementary material and indexes of subjects and proper names. New data will be added to the online edition as it becomes available in the print edition.

Index Islamicus

Index Islamicus indexes literature on Islam, the Middle East and the Muslim world, mainly in European languages. With its regional coverage encompassing the Middle East, Africa, and Asia as well as Muslim minorities throughout the world, it indexes over 2,000 journals as well as conference proceedings, monographs, readers, and book reviews. Subject coverage is not limited to religion, but also includes the social sciences, arts, and natural and applied sciences. Materials are indexed to the article or chapter level. Records can be saved or emailed in a tagged format. 

Multidata Online

 MultiDataOnline provides full text from and bibliographic citations to selected newspapers and periodicals from the Arab world in Arabic, English, and French. MultiDataOnline consists of five databases: 1."General News" provides full text and covers 52 dailies and weeklies since 1994; 2. "Specialized Periodicals" provides bibliographic citations from more than 225 specialized Arabic periodicals since 1920; 3. "Reviews" provides full text book reviews from more than 250 newspapers and magazines in the Arab world from 1998; 4. "Theses" provides a subject index to theses submitted to 21 Lebanese institutions of higher learning; and, 5. "Index Arabicus" documents the contents of 42 Arabic periodicals published between 1870 and 1969. The database has both Arabic and English interfaces.

Please note: These databases are for the use of Duke faculty, students, and staff only. If you are attempting to use these resources from off-Campus, you will need to install the VPN client.     > More...

Middle East & Islamic Studies Resources

Islamic Studies Reference

Christof Galli, Subject Librarian

227 Bostock Library | christof.galli@duke.edu | 919.660.5850

Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, Reference Works

Adamec, Ludwig W.
Historical dictionary of Islam.
Lanham, Md. : Scarecrow Press, 2001
Check availability @ Duke
Brice, William Charles.
An historical atlas of Islam.
Leiden : Brill, 1981
Check availability @ Duke
Clements, Frank.
Historical dictionary of Arab and Islamic organizations.
Lanham, Md. : Scarecrow Press, 2001
Check availability @ Duke
Esposito, John L.
The Oxford dictionary of Islam.
New York : Oxford University Press, 2003.
Divinity School Library Reference BP40 .O95 2003
Lilly Library Reference 297.03 O98, 2003 Check availability @ Duke
Esposito, John L.
The Oxford encyclopedia of the modern Islamic world.
New York : Oxford University Press, 2001.
Lilly Library Reference 909.09767 O98, 2001 Check availability @ Duke
Gibb, Hamilton A. R.
The Encyclopædia of Islam.
Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1954-97.
Divivinity School Library Reference Quarto 297.03 H844EB Check availability @ Duke
A revised multi-volume edition of one of the most important reference works in English on Islamic subjects. A work containing signed articles, with bibliographies, on subjects in biography, history, geography, religious beliefs, institutions, manners and customs, tribes, industries, sciences, and terms of different sorts. Special emphasis is on economic and social topics and on artistic production. Gegraphical material includes separate articles on towns and larger political divisions in the Ottoman Empire, and in foreign countries in which Islam is of importance. Cross references are included. Indexed.
Houtsma, Martijn Theodoor.
E.J. Brill's First Encyclopædia of Islam, 1913-1936.
Leiden ; New York : E.J. Brill, 1993.
Divinity School Library Reference DS35.53 .E53 1993
Lilly Library Reference 297.03 O98, 2003 Check availability @ Duke
Indian Council of Social Science Research. Southern Regional Centre.
Select bibliography on Indian Muslims.
Hyderabad, [India] : Indian Council of Social Science Research, Southern Regional Centre [and] Osmania University, Library, 1983.
Library Service Center 016.297 S464, 1983 LSC
Lilly Library Reference 297.03 O98, 2003 Check availability @ Duke
Joseph, Suad.
Encyclopedia of women & Islamic cultures.
Leiden ; Boston, Mass. : Brill, 2003-
Perkins/Bostock Reference HQ1170 .E53 2003
Check availability @ Duke
Knappert, Jan.
The encyclopedia of Middle Eastern mythology and religion
Shaftesbury, Dorset ; Rockport, Mass., Element, 1993
Divinity School Reference 291.13 K67, E56, 1993
Check availability @ Duke
Mawsilili, Ahmad.
Historical dictionary of Islamic fundamentalist movements in the Arab world, Iran, and Turkey.
Lanham, Md. : Scarecrow Press, 1999
Check availability @ Duke
McAuliffe, Jane Dammen.
Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān.
Leiden : Brill, 2001-2006.
Divinity School Library Reference Quarto 297.12203 E56, 2001 Check availability @ Duke
Medoff, Rafael; Waxman, Chaim Isaac.
Historical dictionary of Zionism.
Lanham, MD : Scarecrow Press, 2000
Check availability @ Duke
Newell, Clayton R.
Historical dictionary of the Persian Gulf War, 1990-1991.
Lanham, Md. : Scarecrow Press, 1998
Check availability @ Duke
Winter, Tim.
The Cambridge companion to classical Islamic theology.
Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Divinity School Library BP166.1 .C36 2008 Check availability @ Duke

Reference Works in Arabic

Yūsuf, Muḥammad Khayr Ramaḍān.
‫ يوسف ، محمد خير رمضان.
‬ Tatimmat al-Aʻlām lil-Ziriklī : wafayāt 1397-1415 H/1977-1995 M.
‫ تتمة الأعلام للزركلي ؛ وفيات ١٣٩٧-١٤١٥ه⁻/١٩٧٧-١٩٩٥م / محمد خير رمضان يوسف
‬ Bayrūt : Dār Ibn Ḥazm, 1998.
‫ بيروت : دار ابن حزم، 1998.
Perkins/Bostock International & Area Studies Reading Room DS37.2 .Z57 1979 Suppl.
Check availability @ Duke
Sayyid, Fuad al-
سيد، فؤاد صالح
Mu'jam al-awakhir fi ta'rikh al-Arab wa-al-Muslimin
معجم الأواخر في تاريخ العرب والمسلمين
Bayrut, Dar al-Manihil
بيروت : دار المناهل، 2001
Perkins/Bostock International & Area Studies Reading Room DS62 .S291 2001
Check availability @ Duke
Zirikli, Khayr al-Din.
al-Alam : qamus tarajim li-ashhar al-rijal wa-al-nisa min al-Arab wa-al-mustaribin wa-al-mustashriqin.
Bayrut, Lubnan : Dar al-Ilm lil-Malayin, 1997.
Perkins/Bostock Library International & Area Studies Reading Room DS37.5.A2 Z57 1997 Check availability @ Duke
Contents: v. 1. Abiri-Ighnatiyus -- v. 2. Iftikhar-Dunaynir -- v. 3. al-Dahhan-Abd al-Salam -- v. 4. Abd al-Salam-Ali -- v. 5. Ali-Muhammad -- v. 6. Muhammad-Muhammad -- v. 7. Muhammad-Nafi -- v. 8. Nafi-Yuhannis.