228 Religious Studies Review Volume 32 Number 4 October 2006

religion and a number of other topics As its sponsorrsquos nameimplies the Jewish Virtual Library represents a Zionist viewpointHowever the vast majority of its secondary sources are reliableand written from a scholarly standpoint The Jewish VirtualLibrary offers one of the best single sites on the Internet forJewish historical and cultural information

Third httpejewishinfo run by the Jewish Agency is essen-tially a network of links to websites on Jewish communitieslibraries laws customs and so forth The site does not rigorouslyfilter the links it includes so users must proceed with caution butfor introductory purposes it is an excellent place to start Thesame applies to links on httpshamashorg while the site doesmaintain an extensive list of links and does provide descriptionsof the websites a number of the sites do advance sectarian agen-das Of course such biases are not difficult to detect and the manywebsites gathered on these links provide a wealth of informationto scholars

Finally a number of openly sectarian and traditional religioussites provide valuable introductions to Judaism and discussionsof Judaism from their own positions Two of these aishcom andchabadorg are among the top ten visited Jewish sites on theInternet Aishcom run by the ultra-Orthodox Aish HaTorahyeshiva in Jerusalem contains a comprehensive introduction toJudaism from the Orthodox viewpoint numerous articles on cur-rent affairs and text and commentaries on the Bible and theTalmud Chabadorg run by the controversial outreach-orientedand somewhat messianic Chabad-Lubavitch sect of Hasidismalso contains a comprehensive introduction to Judaism this timefrom a spiritually and kabbalistically influenced Hasidic view-point as well as important Hasidic texts in translation andresources for everyday Jewish living These sites together withhttpouorg run by the Orthodox Union all provide valuableinformation for scholars However as they represent OrthodoxJewish viewpoints they should be regarded not as secondarysources but in a sense as primary sources espousing particularJewish viewpoints

Special Topics

For those interested in issues regarding Hebrew language andlinguistics the best site on the Internet is that of the Academyof the Hebrew Language (httphebrew-academyhujiacilenglishhtml) The Academy provides free summaries of recentdecisions in the use of Hebrew words and grammar as well as adatabase of verified Hebrew terms and their usages Most impor-tant they have a database (available for a fee) of all writtenHebrew texts from the second century to the eleventh centurywhich includes Dead Sea Scrolls ancient documents MidrashTalmud Piyyut Masoretic works and more Complementingthese offerings is another invaluable resource for scholars a com-prehensive bibliography of ninety percent of books printed inthe Hebrew language between 1470 and 1960 available onlineat httphebrew-bibliographycom plus Maagarim (httphebrew-treasureshujiacil) an online historical dictionary of theHebrew language

For historians the Hebrew Universityrsquos Dinur Center forResearch in Jewish History (httpwwwdinurorg) has an exten-sive online Jewish history research center with a very wide arrayof materials The Center for Jewish History website (httpwwwcjhorg) contains a number of online exhibitions although

most of the centerrsquos electronic resources are not online at thistime There are also many sites specializing in the history of theHolocaust and anti-Semitism with extensive online collectionsThe best of these are The Holocaust Martyrsrsquo and HeroesrsquoRemembrance Authority (httpyadvashemorg) and the USHolocaust Memorial Museum (httpushmmorg) Both containexcellent reliable and extensive resources on the Holocaust andanti-Semitism

One area of increased interest recently is kabbalah the bodyof ancient Jewish mysticism and esoteric knowledge Hereonline resources for the non-Hebrew speaker are woefully inad-equate and often quite misleading Kabbalahcom run by thefor-profit Kabbalah Centre is not reliable Nor are the manysites on ldquokabbalisticrdquo magic This reviewer manages httpwwwlearnkabbalahcom which attempts to provide an academi-cally useful but accessible introduction to kabbalah its historyand its core ideas A site managed by a rabbi in England httpwwwtabickabelcouksourceshtml contains short excerpts of anumber of core kabbalistic texts in a reliable translation httpwwwsmoeorgarcanekabbalahhtml provides a good introduc-tion to kabbalistic literature and history Most important kabbal-istic texts can be found on the general text sites previouslynoted

In general when the scholar happens upon a new website itis imperative to read the ldquoAbout Usrdquo page if anything more thanreproduced primary sources is being presented For every legiti-mate Holocaust website for example there is another one spon-sored by anti-Semitic Holocaust deniers For every site on Jewishmysticism there is another one on ill-defined occult traditionswith little connection to Judaism Both common sense and dili-gence then are required although the explosion in Jewish textavailable online makes the results well worth the effort2006324bullbullbullbullRELIGION ONLINE

WEBSITES FOR THE STUDY OF ISLAM

Websites Reviewed

ISLAM AND ISLAMIC STUDIES RESOURCESlthttpwwwugaeduislamgt

USC-MSA COMPENDIUM OF MUSLIM TEXTSlthttpwwwuscedudeptMSAgt

ISLAM AND HUMAN RIGHTSlthttpwwwlawemoryeduIHRgt

ISLAMIC ART FROM THE LOS ANGELES COUNTYMUSEUM OF ARTlthttpwwwlacmaorgislamic_artislamichtmgt

Reviewer Amir HussainLoyola Marymount UniversityLos Angeles CA 90045-2659

here has been a tremendous increase in interest in websiteson Islam A popular search engine for example lists some167000000 websites for the entry ldquoIslamrdquo A number of

these are sites maintained by Muslims who seek to provide moreinformation about their religion while others go further and

T

Volume 32 Number 4 October 2006 Religious Studies Review 229

actively invite people to Islam Other websites are polemicalthey warn people about the dangers of Islam and Muslims Thereare websites that provide information from Sunni points of viewwhile others are specific to various Shi a groups Many of us whoteach about Islam have our own websites for our courses Myown website httpbellarminelmuedutheologyamir has thefollowing disclaimer about the list of websites that I have com-piled ldquoThis list includes links to various groups who considerthemselves to be Muslim I make no judgement about theirIslam but I understand that others may be all too willing to dothisrdquo For students it is often difficult to find appropriate schol-arly websites

From the numerous scholarly websites available for the studyof Islam I have chosen four for students of religion 1) a com-prehensive website 2) a website that focuses on the Qurrsquoan andon hadith literature 3) a website on Islam and human rights and4) a website on Islamic art

Islam and Islamic Studies Resources (httpwwwugaeduislam)

Dr Alan Godlas has produced the best website for the study ofIslam in North America which is hosted by his institution theUniversity of Georgia Although the site was created in 1997 DrGodlas updates the site continually His website was mentionedin a 2001 article in the Chronicle of Higher Education and it wasnominated for a Webby Award in 2002

What makes the website the best is its comprehensiveness asa scholarly source The main page has links to sixteen differentsections ranging from the Qurrsquoan and Qurrsquoanic interpretation toMuslim women and womenrsquos rights to basic questions and termsThere are separate sections for Sunni and Shi a traditions withinIslam and a comprehensive section on Sufism the mystical tra-dition within Islam As a scholar of Islam if I need to findanything quickly on the Web on any aspect of Islam I will beginhere There are also important links to pages by various Muslimindividuals as well as organizations As such the website givesstudents the full range of information available from Muslim andnon-Muslim scholars as well as from Muslims who are not schol-ars of Islam but are committed believers Often on the same pageof links one finds insider and outsider information that can becompared

USC-MSA Compendium of Muslim Texts (httpwwwuscedudeptMSA)

Another useful website is the Compendium of Muslim Textsproduced by the Muslim Students Association at the Universityof Southern California There is no date given for when the sitewas created but the source code suggests 1999 Nor is thereinformation about how often the site is updated but I have notedupdates in the years that I have used this website

The strength of this website is in its search engines for theQurrsquoan and the hadith literature (narrations about the life of theProphet Muhammad) For the Qurrsquoan there is a transliteration ofthe Arabic text as well as three complete English translations byYusuf Ali Marmaduke Pickthall and M H Shakir There is alsoa search engine that allows for a full search of these translationsWhat sets this site apart from others is the search engine availablefor the hadith The two most authoritative Sunni collections areincluded here along with another important Sunni collection as

well as a partial collection of another Sunni collection All fourof these collections are fully searchable

One concern about this site is that it comes from a conservativeSunni perspective and so does not represent the full spectrum ofIslamic belief There are no links to Shi a collections of hadithfor example which can be found on Dr Godlasrsquos website previ-ously described Also the Qurrsquoan commentary that accompanieseach of the chapters comes from the conservative Pakistanischolar Syed Abul Ala Maududi the founder of the Jamaat-i-Islami in India in 1941

The links available from the site on other topics also representthe views of conservative Sunni scholars With this caveat inmind the website is a primary location for researching the Qurrsquoanor the hadith

Islam and Human Rights (httpwwwlawemoryeduIHR)

Another important website comes from the Islam and HumanRights Fellowship Program at Emory University which is fundedby the Ford Foundation There is no information on the site aboutwhen it was created but it is updated and maintained by EmoryIn addition to the English text the website is available in BahasaIndonesian French Persian and Urdu

I have highlighted this website as it is one of many that isconcerned with issues of Islam and social justice The site itselflinks to scholars and projects on Islamic law women and IslamIslam and democracy and so on The link available for Networkbrings up a page where profiles of scholars are available by namegeographical area or research topic (In the interest of full disclo-sure I am one of more than eighty scholars who are connectedto this site) This is an essential site with which to begin any studyof a socially engaged scholarship on Islam

Islamic Art from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (httpwwwlacmaorgislamic_artislamichtm)

The final website that I include is on Islamic art from the LosAngeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) LACMA has one ofthe finest collections of Islamic art in North America and iscertainly the best collection on the west coast This site wascreated in 2004 and is not regularly updated The text for the sitewas written by Dr Linda Komaroff the curator of Islamic Artat LACMA The site also features calligraphy by MohamedZakariya the greatest American master of Islamic calligraphy

The site has an introduction to Islamic art and is then dividedinto four time periods 1) early 2) early medieval 3) late medi-eval and 4) late One can read about the history of each of theseperiods and then click on a link that takes one to a page withnumerous illustrations and descriptions of the art from eachperiod There are examples of various types of art as well as alink to the architectural contexts in which some of these worksare located The importance of this page is to show the beautythat is present in the Muslim world while providing a good intro-duction to that beauty for students2006324bullbullbullbullRELIGION ONLINE