Wikipedia:Manual of Style (Islam-related articles)
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This page is part of the Manual of Style, and is considered a guideline for Wikipedia. The consensus of many editors formed the conventions described here, and Wikipedia articles should heed these guidelines. Before making any major changes to these guidelines, please use the discussion page to ensure that your changes reflect consensus. |
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[edit] Purpose
The purpose of this manual is to create guidelines for editing Islam related articles to conform to a neutral encyclopedic style as well as to make things easy to read by following a consistent format. The following rules do not claim to be the last word. One way is often as good as another, but if everyone does it the same way, Wikipedia will be easier to read and use, not to mention easier to write and edit. This manual is open to all proposals, discussion, and editing.
[edit] General form of articles
Islam-related articles should generally satisfy the following:
- The first sentence of each article should have the article title in bold and then define the article title.
- Each article should proceed with general remarks near the start and specific ones later. In lengthy articles, separate pages for detailed discussions of a topic should be used with a main article link (or links).
- At the end of each article, there should be the sections 'See also' (for closely related articles), 'External links' (for links to relevant web pages) and 'References' (for reliability of article content) in that order.
- Each article should be in at least one Islam category.
[edit] Grammatical standardization
[edit] Arabic transliteration
See Wikipedia:Manual of Style (Arabic) for details on how to transliterate Arabic words into English, and how to use them on Wikipedia. As a rule, diacritics over and under the letters should not be used in article titles or text (only in the etymology section). If a non-standard form of transliteration is to be used, it must be the primary transliteration, based on references or self-identification. For example Mecca rather than Makkah, mosque rather than masjid, etc. Otherwise a standard transliteration should be used. The characters representing the ayin (ع) and the hamza are not omitted in the standard form, represented by the grave accent (`) and the apostrophe ('), respectively.
Words of Arabic origin should be written out uncapitalized, except at the beginning of a sentence, and italicized, except when the word has passed into common English vocabulary (see Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Loan words). For example, fiqh, kharaj, and wudu should usually be italicized; zakat, jihad, and hadith should not. (Proper names are exempt from these rules: they should always be capitalized and unitalicized.)
Articles should include the original Arabic on the first line. If the Arabic is unknown, place {{Arabic}} at the top of the talk page to mark the article for attention from someone who does.
[edit] Translation
In English-language articles, Arabic terms should be translated into standard English wherever possible without compromising the meaning of the text. For example, "Allah" should be translated as "God", but a literal translation of "Deen" as "path" would obscure the special meaning of this term as used in Islam (although "way of life" might be acceptable).
[edit] Templates
Templates are used to give information about the status of an article: whether someone is busy editting it, whether it is part of a series of articles, whether the article needs references etc. Templates may be typed with the first letter of the first word in the template tag uncapitalised.
[edit] Templates in articles
Some commonly used and useful templates - which, if used, should be placed at the top of the article - include:
- {{references}} - indicates that the article contains no references.
- {{inuse}} and variants - to indicate that the article is currently undergoing a major edit. It is mainly used to avoid (or potentially reduce) edit conflicts. Please remember to remove this tag once you have finished your edit !
- {{expansion}} or {{expandarticle}} - to indicate that the article needs expanding.
- {{ActiveDiscuss}} - indicates that the article is currently being reviewed.
- {{Contradict}} - indicates that the article appears to contradict itself.
- {{Disputed}} - indicates that the facts in the article are not agreed upon.
- {{Importance}} - indicates that the article does not contain important information about the topic.
- {{noncompliant}} - indicates that the article does not comply with Wikipedia content policies.
- {{POV}} - indicates that the neutrality of the article is disputed.
- {{subst:afd}} or {{subst:vfd}} - indicates that the article is being considered for deletion.
Other useful templates that should be placed within the main text:
- {{Verify source}} or {{Check}} - indicates that the statement needs to be verified.
- {{Verify credibility}} - indicates that the credibility of the source needs to be checked.
- {{or}} - questions whether the content is original research.
- {{dubious}} - disputed statement.
- {{failed verification}} - indicates that the statement is not supported by the purported citation.
- {{fact}} or {{citation needed}} - indicates that a citation is needed for the given statement.
[edit] Templates in user talk pages
To facilitate communication between editors, a number of templates can be placed in the user talk pages. These are sometimes used to let editors know that their efforts are appreciated, but they have inadvertently not contributed to improving the article (some editors even class this as vandalism, but it is not). Unfortunately, many pages are deliberately vandalised (some randomly, others repeatedly) and it is recommended that some of these templates be used:
- {{lang0}} - deals with the American and British English spelling problem.
- {{repeat vandal}} - IP address has been repeatedly blocked for persistent vandalism.
- {{obscene}} - don't add obscenities.
- {{3RR}} - will block if violation of the three-revert rule occurs.
[edit] Islam templates
Various templates can be found at the above page.
[edit] Islamic honorifics
In keeping with the neutral nature of Wikipedia, Islamic honorifics should generally be omitted from articles, except where they are part of quotations.
[edit] Allah
Allah has many honorifics, the most common one being
- SWT or the fuller Subhanahu wa ta'ala, meaning "praised and exalted is He (Allah)" — recommended action is to remove.
Allah should be replaced with its translation of "God", unless used as part of a quote. Also, the first occurrence of "God" in the article should be something to the effect of the following: [[Islamic concept of God|God]].
[edit] Muhammad
There are several honorifics for Muhammad which should generally not be used in articles. The page Islam and veneration for Muhammad discusses these honorifics in more detail, the most common ones being:
- The Prophet or (The) Holy Prophet (including with a lowercase 'h') in place of, or preceding, "Muhammad"; or just Prophet preceding "Muhammad" — recommended action is to simplify and NPOV to just "Muhammad"; in first references to Muhammad in an article in which confusion with other Muhammads is plausible, render "Muhammad", or possibly "the Muslim prophet Muhammad".
- PBUH , or the fuller peace be upon him, after Muhammad or other Islamic prophets — recommended action is to remove.
- SAW (or SA), a variant of PBUH, sometimes used after "Muhammad" — recommended action is to remove.
[edit] Companions
Capitalization of Companions of Muhammad (Sahaba) when referring to those who knew Muhammad — correction action is to uncapitalize in keeping with Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Capitals.
There are also other honorifics for companions all of which can be abbreviated to:
- RA or the fuller versions Radiya-allahu ta'ala (an-hu/an-ha/an-hum/an-huma) - for a sahabi, a sahabiyyah, more than 2 sahaba and exactly 2 sahaba, respectively - recommended action is to remove.
[edit] Angels and Prophets
An angel or a prophet has the honorific:
- AS or the fuller Alai-hi-as-salam, for example, Jesus (AS) - recommended action is to remove.
[edit] Quran
- Holy Qur'an (or Holy Koran, Holy Quran, etc.) — recommended action is to NPOV to "Qur'an". Reason: Calling a book "Holy" is making a value judgement that is inappropriate to Wikipedia.
[edit] Martyrs
Description of Muslims as martyrs is in most cases inappropriate, as it ascribes a meaning to the martyr's death which non-Muslims might consider unacceptably POV. Terms like "martyrdom" are best avoided.
[edit] Sources
[edit] General policy
- Wikipedia can only quote qualified scholars of Islam, as Wikipedia policy dictates that authors must be "authoritative in relation to the subject at hand." The editors should not write for example "Some Muslims argue X" and then reference it to some Muslim websites unless they could show that the website is representative of the thought of a particular significant group.
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- Please note that websites such as "Answering-Christianity.com" are not reliable sources, because they are neither written by famous scholars nor peer reviewed works. Articles at islamic-awareness.org are usually signed by the authors. For those articles , if one can establish that the authors hold an official academic degree (Western or Islamic) and are notable, they could be used when properly attributed to the authors. Articles at islamic-awareness.org are more likely to have references. So, if you found something there, try to look up for its source and then look up the original source. If you are lucky, you'll get a good sourced piece of information.
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- We can safely use Islamonline.net for articles written by Yusuf al-Qaradawi himself as he is a renowned, qualified scholar. The quotes should be credited to al-Qaradawi himself. For other articles, those articles or quotes that are signed by scholars that their degree of fame could be established could be used. Please note that the articles on Islamonline.net have only authority on matters of Islamic jurisprudence.
[edit] Tips: How to find good sources
General Tips
- You can have free (but limited) online access to many of their books at books.google.com or amazon.com. You can also search for a word (like dhimmi) in books.google.com and find good books. But you need to know the names of famous scholars of Islam to pick the books that are written by famous scholars. It is useful to memorize names of some famous scholars of Islam such as Henry Corbin, Montgomery Watt, Bernard Lewis, Wilferd Madelung, William Muir, John Esposito, Fred Donner and Carl Ernst.
- If you can afford $15 a month for access to an online library, Questia has a spotty selection of Islam-related books. They don't have everything one would want, but they have enough to justify the money, IMHO. You can search the library without joining.
- In the US, if you have a library card at the local public library (usually free to city residents) you can often get a card at the library of a nearby public university or community college. This may get you access to their online databases like Lexis/Nexis, Jstor, and the Oxford English Dictionary.
- Encyclopedia of Islam is a very good source and one can find information on almost everything. But it is not free unless you belong to an organization that provides access to this for you.
- Michael Sells, Muqtedar Khan, Moojan Momen and Reza Aslan are suggested by your fellow wikipedians as useful sources.
- Mizan by Javed Ahmed Ghamidi is a good source of basic Islamic shariah. The article has links to most part of the book in English language.
Biography of Muhammad
For western academic works on the biography of Muhammad, one can refer to the works of scholars such as Montgomery Watt or Wilferd Madelung or William Muir etc. See the list of scholars at Historiography of early Islam. Among them Montgomery Watt seems to be more sympathetic towards Islam. It is better to avoid using writers such as Karen Armstrong who are not in a very high scholarly status. If you would like to quote Karen Armstrong, you may want to get access to the original references of her works and get access to the original sources.
- Some fellow wikipedians have suggested the Berkey's book, The Formation of Islam, which is an introductory text, points readers to more detailed works, and is quite recent. And also the survery The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates by Hugh Kennedy.
- Another method is to look in the bibliography of an authorative book by an eminent scholar. See who Montgomery Watt mentions, and then see if those he mentions have written anything recently, and then do the same with those books until you find one about the specific subject you are interested in.
- It is suggested that a good list of scholarly biographies of Muhammad should be in the references section of the respective article.
- Sometimes Professors have their syllabus online, and you can see what they are having their class read. If you are near a University, you can look in the course catalogue, and then go to the bookstore and see what the texts are. The other thing one might do is call or email a professor and ask him to recommend a book. Even eminent scholars are usually very approachable if you had a genuine interest in their field.
Theology and Philosophy of Islam
- For western academic works on the Islamic theology wikipedians can use "History of Islamic Philosophy" Which is written by Henry Corbin.
[edit] On controversial issues
Academic responses to commonly found criticisms of Islam
- Works of Montgomery Watt in general. Particularly, On page 229, Watt Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman, Watt addresses many commonly known criticisms, here: [1]. Also here:[2]
- Paper by Azizah Y. al-Hibri [3] published here: Al-Hibri, Azizah Y. (2003). "An Islamic Perspective on Domestic Violence". 27 Fordham International Law Journal 195. It addresses the issue of alleged domestic violence in Qur'an and also women related issues.
- Works of Michael Sells. For example, here [4], he addresses the claim that Islam is a religion of violence in contrast to Christianity, a religion of peace.
- D. S. Margoliouth in his book Mohammed and the Rise of Islam states "The charming and eloquent treatise of Syed Ameer Ali, The Spirit of Islam, is probably the best achievement in the way of an apology for Mohammed that is ever likely to be composed in a European language".
- Understanding-islam.com is a reliable source, which is a website associated with Al-Mawrid Institute of Islamic Sciences. It is also available in print media.
Academic sources containing criticisms of Islam
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This section is a stub. You can help by expanding it. |
- Answering-Islam.org has plentiful resources for Islamic criticism, with varying degree of scholarship.
[edit] Terrorism
The use of the word terrorism is contentious; see Wikipedia:Words to avoid#Terrorist, terrorism. Its use should be decided on a case-by-case basis, it is usually applied to politically or religiously-motivated attacks on civilian targets by non-state actors for the purposes of creating fear.
[edit] Categorisation
Due to the huge number of Islam articles present, as well as to address the problem of 'dumping' new Islam articles in Category:Islam (and similarly for other subcategories), appropriate placement of articles in categories is required. This has been done to some extent, but quite often, many new editors are unaware of more technical categories (e.g. Category:Tafsir). Of course, an article may be (and usually is) placed in more than one category, but to avoid cluttering categories, the number of categories any given article is placed into should be kept to a minimum.
[edit] Islam category
With respect to the 'dumping' problem mentioned above, it is requested that editors check Category:Islam frequently, as this is the place where many new Islam articles are placed, but where the articles could (sometimes clearly) be better placed in at least one subcategory of Category:Islam. MP has made some attempt to counteract this dumping tendency, but the problem seems persistent - perhaps a few words at the start of the Islam category page would help.
Criteria that should be satisfied for inclusion of an Islam-related article in the Islam category are:
- An article that cannot satisfactorily be placed in a subcategory of the Islam category.
- Only include the most notable figures/beings in Islam - Allah and Muhammad also have their own subcategories Category:Allah and Category:Muhammad.
- Any other general words or phrases that are commonly found in Islam. Examples: Tawhid, Sadaqah, Jihad and lists of Islam-related topics (e.g. List of Islamic terms in Arabic).
[edit] Divisions of Islam
There is a Category:Islamic sects for placing articles on various sects in Islam.
[edit] Sunni, Shi'a and Sufi Islam
These 3 sects have their own categories, in fact they are subcategories of Category:Islamic sects, which is a subcategory of Category:Islam.
[edit] People
There are many Islam articles that are about Muslims. These articles should be placed in the appropriate category such as Category:Muslims or a subcategory thereof such as, Category:Caliphs, Category:Imams, Category:Fictional Muslims and Category:Muslims by nationality. Only the most notable or famous Muslims should be placed in Category:Muslims.
[edit] Stubs
There is currently one stub category with 3 subcategories:
- Category:Islam stubs - type {{Islam-stub}} near the end of an article to add it to this category.
- Category:Islamic biography stubs - type {{Islam-bio-stub}} near the end of an article to add it to this subcategory.
- Category:Islamic studies book stubs -
- Category:Mosque stubs -
[edit] Hadith
Articles on hadith should, where possible, make clear the reliability of the hadith. The four general types of hadith reliability are:
- Sahih (authentic) - further subdivided into:
- Hasan (fair/good).
- Da'if (weak).
- Maudu' (fabricated).
[edit] References
As with any good encyclopedia, reliable sources should be given in each article. References to sources are of two types: those within the main text of an article (for example, a Qur'anic quote) and those at the end of an article. To maintain some type of standard in citing reliable sources, the following are suggestions towards this end.
[edit] Articles lacking references
Articles which have no references at the end of an article should have the {{references}} tag at the top of the article.
Even with references at the end, certain statements in the main text of the article may still be unsubstantiated, in which case the {{uncited}} tag should be placed immediately after the claim.
[edit] References within main text
Apart from the Harvard referencing convention of writing the author's name and year of publication of source in brackets after the end of a sentence or paragraph, more specific citations for WikiProject Islam include the following:
[edit] Quran translations
There is no general consensus on which translation is to be used for Islam articles at Wikipedia. However, in any given article, any translation(s) from the Qur'an should quote the same translation source (e.g. Yusuf Ali) in that article (but not necessarily this same source in another article), unless comparing different translations or giving evidence for the meaning of a certain verse.
There is no general format of Qur'anic references, but an informative and convenient suggestion is this form:
- Sura 4.35 translated by Shakir
which gives a reference to verse 35 of sura 4 (An-Nisa) in the translation by M. H. Shakir.
[edit] Hadith
References to hadith should, if possible, state the reliability of the hadith (see previous section).
[edit] References at end of article
References at the end include books, journals and many other types of sources. The citation templates for these are suggested for use.
