Websites for the Study of Islam

There has been a tremendous increase in interest in websites on Islam. A popular search engine, for example, lists some 167,000,000 websites for the entry “Islam.” A number of these are sites maintained by Muslims who seek to provide more information about their religion, while others go further and actively invite people to Islam. Other websites are polemical: they warn people about the dangers of Islam and Muslims. There are websites that provide information from Sunni points of view, while others are specific to various Shia groups. Many of us who teach about Islam have our own websites for our courses. My own website, http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/theology/amir/, has the following disclaimer about the list of websites that I have compiled: “This list includes links to various groups who consider themselves to be Muslim. I make no judgement about their Islam, but I understand that others may be all too willing to do this.” For students, it is often difficult to find appropriate scholarly websites.

From the numerous scholarly websites available for the study of Islam, I have chosen four for students of religion: 1) a comprehensive website; 2) a website that focuses on the Qur’an and on hadith literature; 3) a website on Islam and human rights; and 4) a website on Islamic art.