FIRST STEPS | ARTICLES | BOOKS |
First steps for identifying Islamic Law issues:
- First, an excellent place to search original Islamic law source material, and specifically the Qur'an and the Sunna, all in English translation, is here.
- Peruse Yearbooks from Islamic law countries. http://www.heinonline.org/HOL/Index?collection=intyb
- Look for regions, countries, or issues in articles and reports by the Council on Foreign Relations. http://www.cfr.org/
- If there is a particular country that interests you, see how much of its law is available on the Internet.
http://www.worldlii.org/regions.html
or
Look for Country of Origin reports
http://www.ecoi.net/
- Look through Policy File for reports from government and international organizations. http://www.policyfile.com/home.do
- Choose “OIC Institutions” in the Statistical, Economic, & Social Research Training Center for Islamic Countries’ “links” list.
http://www.sesrtcic.org/index.php
- See if the Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law has an article that excites you. http://www.mpepil.com/home
If any of these electronic resources ask you for a user name and password, log-in to https://sremote.pitt.edu with your Pitt user name and password and look for the source in the University's database list. If you still can't get in, you will have to access it from the law school’s computer lab.
How to find journal articles about law and policy in Islamic countries:
The University Library System databases include titles such as Arab Law Quarterly, Islamic Law and Society, and Muslim World Journal of Human Rights.
You can find articles in these kinds of privately published journals by:
- Browsing through the A-Z title list of journals.
http://rt4rf9qn2y.search.serialssolutions.com/ - Selecting one of the following journal databases:
JSTOR - http://www.jstor.org/
Scholarly journals including many social sciences and international affairs sources.
PAIS – Public Affairs Information Service
Articles, conference reports, white papers, etc… about domestic, foreign, & international policy issues.
Worldwide Political Science Abstracts Database
http://www.proquest.com/libraries/academic/databases/polsci-set-c.html
Remember, when using non-law databases, to include “law” or “court” or other search terms conveying that you seek legal information. To reach the narrowest results in Lexis, Westlaw, and other journal databases, remember to use searches like these:
Islam! OR Muslim w/10 ___(search term)___
or
TITLE (islamic law) and TITLE (financ!)
or
Egypt w/seg islam! OR muslim w/2 law
Books about Islamic law are within multiple call number ranges on the third floor of the law library and at the GSPIA & Hillman Libraries:
- The KBP call number range is for books about analysis and practical application of Islamic law.
- The BP call number range is for books about Islamic religious law.
- The regional call number ranges for countries that officially follow Islamic law:
Middle East—KM
Africa—KQ - KT
Asia—KN - KP
--Also consult the library catalog at http://pittcat.pitt.edu where you can search by author, title, keyword, call number or subject.
Interesting Islamic Law Web Sites:
Organization of the Islamic Conference
Search for information from this IGO’s their newsletter and other documents with the following Google site search: site:www.oic-oci.org(space)xxx. (The xxx is where you put your search terms.)
Islamic Law Infobase
Browse by country or “special topics.”
http://www.nyazee.org/islaw/Islamic%20Law%20Infobase.html
Karamah: Muslim Women Lawyers for Human Rights
Peruse articles, cases, and other resources.
http://www.karamah.org
law articles http://karamah.org/resources/articles/research
Contemporary Thought
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/islamic/resources.html
Encyclopedia
http://www.al-islam.org/encyclopedia/
Dictionary & language lessons
http://i-cias.com/babel/arabic/index.htm