Database Highlight, on behalf of the UST Libraries’ “Humanities and Arts Round Table” (HART) – by Curt Le May, Library Liaison for Theology and Religious Studies.

UST Libraries recently lost a valued colleague, Dr. Terence Nichols, who was a theology professor at St. Thomas for 27 years, and passed away on April 12. Given that Dr. Nichols was the founder and Co-Director of the University’s Muslim-Christian Dialogue Center, I believe it is only appropriate that we highlight a database in the area of Islamic Studies in his honor…

Oxford Islamic Studies Online is an unparalleled resource for the study of the Islamic world including two translations of the Qur’an seamlessly combined with reference material, primary texts, hundreds of maps and images, interactive timelines, and more. For example, this source contains:

• More than 6,000 articles encompassing all aspects of the Islamic world, giving students ready access to the most authoritative scholarship in the field.
• The first and only electronic version of Hanna E. Kassiss’ Concordance of the Qur’an links to the sites of two translations of the Qur’an, offering the ability to access this essential text in a way no other Islamic Studies resource can.
• 250+ primary source documents selected and translated by leading scholars include excerpts from seminal books, transcripts of speeches, fatwas, statements posted on Arabic internet sites and other sources.
• Carefully selected links to trustworthy external websites saves students and researchers time investigating the validity of online sources.
• Reference content and analysis by renowned scholars in global Islamic history, concepts, people, practices, politics, and culture.