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Maktaba is a resource on the Islamic World for educators and the general public. Maktaba is a joint project created by the Global Studies Center at the University of Pittsburgh and CERIS.
The goal of the Web site is to provide Islamic Studies resources for not only K-16 educators but also to students of all ages and the general public. Islamic Studies extends from the seventh century to the present and across broad geographical areas of the world. It includes the history and cultures of Muslim majority countries from Morocco to Indonesia as well as Muslim minorities living in Europe and the United States. It encompasses many languages, literatures, and disciplines, including geometry, law, economics, music, and architecture.
The Web site includes teaching materials and curriculum; books, films in English or Arabic, and artifacts available to educators through the Global Studies Center lending library, online videos of guest lectures, and informative links. Resources are organized around a series of core topics, geographic regions and the intended audience. Many of the books and artifacts available through the lending library were purchased during two study tours for educators in Egypt in 2007 and 2009 funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Fulbright Hays grant.
Lending materials are available to educators for three-week loans by mail or in person. The only cost to the borrower is return postage.
However, any damage will be assessed at the expense of the borrower. To borrow any resource, please contact ceris@pobox.com or 412-648-2113.
Please visit Maktaba at this location: http://noborders.ucis.pitt.edu/maktaba/.
Other Resources
BOOKS, PRINT
500 Most Influential Muslims in the World 2009
created by the Royal IslamicStrategic Studies Centre
The Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center
for Muslim-Christian Understanding
Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service
Georgetown University
cmcu.georgetown.edu
http://www.rissc.jo/muslim500v-1L.pdf
*Approaching the Qur'an: The Early Revelations
Author: Michael Anthony Sells
This was our Faculty Reader's Forum selection for facilitated discussion on September 14, 2006. Despite the rapid growth of Islam in this country, its precepts and scripture remain inaccessible to many readers. It is difficult, too, that many of its believers assert that the Qur'an cannot be translated. This groundbreaking work by Haverford College professor Sells goes a very long way to bridging the gap that separates the non-Islamic reader from the Qur'an; he translates and extensively annotates a careful selection of the earliest "suras" (revelations), setting them in their cultural context. Further chapters discuss sound and gender in the meaning of the Qur'an, and the book includes an hour-long CD of extraordinary field recordings of male and female Qur'anic reciters. Highly recommended. (The Library Journal, 1999, Reed Business Information, Inc.).
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Islam
Author: John Emerick
Using the "Idiot's Guide's" formula of questions and answers, sidebars, and small, easy-to-digest essays, Emerick makes Islam accessible to anyone.
The Crusades Through Arab Eyes
Author: Amin Maalouf
Amin Maalouf has combed the works of Arab chroniclers of the Crusades, many of them eyewitnesses and participants in the events they describe. The Crusades Through Arab Eyes is a vivid portrait of a society nearly destroyed by internal conflict and shaken by a traumatic encounter with an alien culture. Maalouf offers fascinating insights into the historical forces that even today shape Arab and Islamic consciousness.
*Following Muhammad: Rethinking Islam in the Contemporary World
Author: Carl M. Ernst
Faculty Readers' Forum choice for April 26, 2007. Ernst, a professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is not a stranger to Islam-related controversy. His recommendation of Michael Sells's book Approaching the Qur'an to the UNC Summer Reading Program for incoming freshmen spurred an international firestorm. Following Muhammad itself was rejected by the publisher that had commissioned the manuscript, as some editors there objected to publishing a book that could be construed as supporting terrorism. Despite these obstacles, Ernst brought the book to another press with rewarding results: it is a pleasure to read. Ernst has a multilayered and self-assured understanding of Islam, and his writing exemplifies a fluency in explaining it that is unique to him, even compared to better-known scholars of the religion. Delicate and complex points about Islam as a religion and culture, about Sufism, and even about Osama bin Ladin, flow off the page effortlessly, with only a few spots that are too abstract. Rather than addressing the standard introductory information about Islam, like the Five Pillars, he has organized his book by themes, with chapters on topics such as ethics and spirituality. The book's greatest strength is Ernst's unrelenting but well-reasoned critique of how the West has consistently marginalized Islam and Muslims from the first encounters onward. Ernst is fair, however -- while he admonishes the West for indulging in negative and inaccurate stereotypes of Islam and Muslims, he calls upon Muslims to participate fully in the pluralistic society the world has become. (as reviewed by Publishers Weekly)
*Hate Your Policies, Love Your Institutions
Author: John Waterbury
The first session of the CERIS Faculty Readers' Forum centered on this article from Foreign Affairs, January/February 2003. Online discussion took place January 6–20, 2006, and was facilitated by Kurt Werthmuller of
In the Shade of the Tree: A Photographic Odyssey Through the Muslim World
Author: Peter Sanders
A breathtaking look at the Muslim world through the lenses of an internationally acclaimed photographer.
Muslims in America: Seven Centuries of History (1312-2000)
Author: Amir Muhammad
An Eye-opening survey of Muslim American history dating back before Columbus.
Muslims (Slave) Uprising of 1835: Slave Rebellion in Brazil
A remarkable event in history that provided the impetus for the eventual ending of slavery in the Americas. Inspired by Islamic teachings, African Muslim slaves faced intimidation, spoke out about their lives and lead an uprising that changed the world.
NAFSA Poster Session Reading Resources on Middle East and North Africa
Click here for a PDF list of books and articles on the Middle East and North Africa from a poster session at the NAFSA Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas, in May, 2002.
New York Times, Books of the Times: "People of the Book," January 6, 2008
The following are accessible to the general public:
Tariq Ramadan - Essay: Reading the Koran
Irsahd Manji - Soldiers of Allah
Jefferey Goldberg - Seeds of Hate
Fouad Ajami - Essay: The Clash
William Dalrymple - Eat Your Heart Out, Homer
Access to these pieces is available via free NYTimes membership registration:
Lorraine Adams - The Face of War
Shibley Telhami - Cartoon Villains
Ayaan Hirsi Ali - Blind Faiths
Rashid Khalidi - Red, White, Blue and Green
Max Rodenbeck - The Early Days
Eric Ormsby - The Lost Garden
Jason Goodwin - The Pragmatic Caliphs
Tom Reiss -
Freedom at Gunpoint
Sarah Wildman -
Caught in the Ayatollah's Web
Robert F. Worth - Essay: Arabic Lessons
Muslim scholar Zaid Shakir comments on the above articles at www.newislamicdirections.com/nid/articles/review_of_islam_in_nyt_book_review/
*No God but God: Egypt and the Triumph of Islam
Author: Geneive Abdo (Oxford University Press, 2000)
The second reading for CERIS's Faculty Readers' Forum.
*Orientalism
Author: Edward Wadie Said
CERIS Faculty Readers' Forum choice for February 8, 2007.
The author (1935-2003) was a well-known Palestinian-American literary theorist and outspoken Palestinian activist. He was professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University, and regarded as a founding figure in post-colonial theory. In this work he examines the way in which the West observes the Arabs. Said's evaluation and critique of the set of beliefs known as Orientalism forms an important background for postcolonial studies and current understandings. His work describes the constallation of false assumptions that forms the foundation of Orientalist thinking, and advocates the use of focused narrative and self-representation to understand smaller, culturally consistent regions. His supporters and critics alike acknowledge the profound, transformative influence this book has had across the spectrum of the humanities. First published in 1978, the book is now available in paperback.
*The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain
Author: Maria Rosa Menocal (Little, Brown and Company, 2002)
The third reading for CERIS's Faculty Readers' Forum.
Science in Medieval Islam
Author: Howard R. Turner
This book offers a fully illustrated, highly accessible introduction to an important aspect of Islam's Golden Age - the scientific achievements of medieval Islam.
*Servants of Allah: African Muslims Enslaved in the Americas
Author: Sylviane A. Diouf
CERIS Faculty Readers' Forum choice for November 1, 2007.
A book retracing the influential footsteps of African Muslims in America. It asserts that Islam was clearly the first revealed religion followed by African slaves in the Americas. It describes their struggles in upholding practice of Islam, trying to return to Africa, preserving literacy through understanding the Quran, and resisting missionary pressures. It summarizes the enduring legacy of Islamic culture in African-American names, songs, rituals and religious ceremony.
Teaching About Islam and Muslims in the Public School Classroom
Now in its third edition, this popular publication helps American educators presented with the task of accurately and fairly teaching about Islam and Muslims in primary and secondary schools.
What Everyone Needs to Know about Islam
Author: John Esposito
Esposito presents in question-and-answer format the information about Islam that people most want to know.
NAFSA Poster Session Reading Resources on Middle East / North Africa
Click here for a PDF list of reading resources from a Middle East / North Africa Poster Session at the NAFSA Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas, in May, 2002.
RESEARCH
Research and Presentation Tips
Great tips on research and presentation (useful for participants in CERIS's Undergraduate Research Symposium) at Pitt's Speaking in the Disciplines page. Go to http://www.speaking.pitt.edu/student/public-speaking/index.html for more information.
VIDEOS, DVDS
Islam: Empire of Faith
Running Time: 160 min
Content: A survey of 1000 years of Islamic history starting at the birth of the Prophet Muhammad. Includes Muslim contributions in art and science.
Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet
Running Time: 120 min
Content: A innovative biography of prophet Muhammad told by 21st Century American Muslims who live his example.
Inside Islam (presented by the History Channel)
Running Time: 100 min
Content: This balanced, objective introduction to the great faith traces its roots back to Abraham and explains the main tenets of Islam, the Five Pillars that all Muslims must adhere to. What the Qur'an has to say about war, violence and suicide is explained by leading Muslim scholars.
Islam: A Closer Look
Running Time: 35 min
Content: Documentary featuring a basic, but thought provoking explanation of Islamic beliefs and practices.
The Hajj (ABC Nightline)
Running Time: 23 min
Content: An ABC Nightline special report covering one American's journey to Mecca for his pilgrimage.
Islam in America After 9/11 (PBS documentary)
Running Time: 40 min
Content: A PBS documentary that offers a true depiction of the way the American Muslim community suffered and served along with the rest of their American neighbors after the tragic 9/11 events.
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Consortium for Educational Resources on Islamic Studies (CERIS)
4100 Posvar Hall, University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Phone: 412-648-2113;
Fax: 412-624-4672
E-mail: ceris@pobox.com
Web site: www.cerisnet.org
This page was last updated 5/11/11 .