ANSWERING REFERENCE QUESTIONS October 17, 2006
Posted by norazlynn in Information Sources & Searching.trackback
This paper was written for the Information Sources & Searcing Module. The Professor requested that the students do not exceed 2 pages for the report.
ANSWERING REFERENCE QUESTIONS
Classical vis-a-vis Contemporary Jihad in Islam
NORA
Analysing the question, “Classical” and “contemporary” are vague terms because the exact period is not defined. “Classical” could possibly refer to one of the period during Prophet Muhammad years, the Crusades against Muslim etc. and “Contemporary” could possibly refer to the Islamic Golden Age, and even post 9/11 events etc. “Jihad” can be defined as spiritual struggle, self-defence, terrorism etc and “Islam” is divided into denominations and sects with differing theory of Jihad. Individuals making the query have diversified amount of needs and thus reference interview is done to understand the exact requirements. A comparative religion academic will need in-depth information, an Islamic scholar needs articles to denounce terrorism and an intelligence analyst needs information to forecast trends in Jihad. A general member of a society may want the overview of Jihad amidst the media hype and this will be the assumption used for referring the appropriate source of information.
Dictionaries and periodical index are not feasible because a simple definition isn’t enough and sieving through the vast sources is time consuming. Subject encyclopedias in Islam or Religion are identified as the main source of information and the search began with the library’s online catalogue. Three suitable sources are identified; namely Encyclopedia of religious freedom, The Oxford encyclopedia of the modern Islamic World and Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World.
Jihad is a virtuous struggle towards a praiseworthy end as defined by Islam. The classical Muslims scholars theorised that there are two basic categories of jihad; the spiritual Jihad, which is termed as the greater Jihad, and the physical Jihad. The spiritual Jihad is to overcome one’s own evil inclinations and the physical Jihad is to defend or propagate Islam where physical aggression should only be the last resort.
Apart from the conservatives who still believed in the spiritual aspects of Jihad, the concepts of contemporary Jihad varies among individuals. The modernist Muslims opined that Jihad is not to propagate Islam or subjugate unbelievers; it is only waged in self-defence. The fundamentalists and radicals have derogatory stance on Jihad which the world is exposed to currently. Jihad, to them, is a struggle if necessary, with the use of violence to spread their brand of Islam towards Muslims and non-Muslims.
The information from Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World was cross-checked with sources mentioned earlier and no discrepancies were found. Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World, published in 2003, is a two volumes publication containing short definitions, biographies and essays on Islam. Entries are accompanied with cross-references, citations and the name of the contributor. Indexes list is at the last pages of the encyclopedia which won the 2005 RUSA Best Reference Sources and New York Library Best of Reference 2004.The publisher, MacMillan Reference USA, has been printing encyclopedias since 1980’s.
Sohail H. Hasmi, the contributor of the 3 pages Jihad article, is an associate professor of International Relations on the Alumnae Foundation at Mount Holyoke College. The academic specializes in Religions and Politics and has written a number of publications on Islam. The article construes the term “Jihad” and the history of the Islamic struggle spiritually and physically. Sohail H. Hasmi appears unbiased as he explained that the “holy war” the world is exposed now is dictated by the fundamentalist ideologies and terrorists who justify the killings, but is condemned by the mainstream scholars. General public will get an overview of Jihad from the article and academics can refer further to the citations. Therefore, it can be concluded that “Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World” is a good encyclopedia as a reference source for meeting the authority, recency and objectivity criteria.
References
Hashmi, S. (2003). Jihad. In Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World (Vol. 1, pp. 377-379). USA: Macmillan Reference.
Khan, A. (2003). Jihad in Classical and Modern Islam (Book). Journal of World History, 14(1), 93. Retrieved Wednesday, October 11, 2006 from the Academic Search Premier database.
Long, J.M. (2003). Jihad. In Encyclopedia of Religious Freedom (pp. 241-246). New York: Routledge.
Mount Holyoke College. (2006, January). Sohail Hashmi. Retrieved October 16, 2006, from http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/misc/profile/shashmi.shtml
Peters, R. (2001). Jihad. In The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World (pp. 369-373). USA: Oxford University Press Inc.
van Slooten, P. (2005). Dispelling Myths About Islam and Jihad. Peace Review, 17(2/3), 289-294. Retrieved Wednesday, October 11, 2006 from the Academic Search Premier database
Got an A for this! The Professor even remarked “Excellent Job”.
I can understand why you got an “A” for this. You’ve made very logical steps in analysing the enquiry, given that it was so brief. Good work
geez…thanks Ivan!
I still remeber the feeling of dissatisfaction when writing the paper cos of the page limit. I believe I can explained myself futher if there was no imposed limit… so much for freedom of speech…LOL…