Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies

The Bibliography of Arabic Books Online is a continuing project. It's searchable in English, transliterated Arabic, and Arabic script.

Brockelmann’s Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur offers bio-bibliographic information about works written in Arabic and their authors, with an emphasis on the classical period. This originally multivolume reference work is divided in chronologically organized sections, which are subdivided by literary genre. Individual entries typically consist of a biographical section and a list of the author’s works in manuscript and print, with references to secondary literature.

Index Islamicus is the primary index to literature on Islam, the Middle East and Muslim areas of Asia and Africa, and Muslim minorities elsewhere. It includes citations to over 2,000 journals, conference proceedings, monographs, and book reviews from 1906 to present.

Coverage includes the following fields:

political affairs & law
international relations
economic affairs: business & industry
cultural heritage, arts & humanities
society & social welfare
ethnic diversity & anthropology
significant religious events & movements
recent history (1881 - present) & archaeology

Afghanistan's history, internal political development, foreign relations, and very existence as an independent state have largely been determined by its geographic location at the crossroads of Central, West, and South Asia. In modern times, as well as in antiquity, vast armies of the world passed through Afghanistan, temporarily establishing local control and often dominating Iran and northern India. Islam has played a key role in the formation of Afghanistan as well. Although it was the scene of great empires and flourishing trade for over two millennia, Afghanistan did not become a truly independent nation until the twentieth century. In much of the twentieth century, Afghanistan remained neutral. It was not a participant in World War II, nor aligned with either power bloc in the Cold War. However, it was a beneficiary of the latter rivalry as both the Soviet Union and the U.S. vied for influence by building such infrastructure works as roads, airports, water and sewer systems, and hospitals. The U.S. State Department Central Classified Files are the definitive source of American diplomatic reporting on political, military, social, and economic developments throughout the world in the twentieth century.

The collection ranges from contemporary novels to national heritage scientific treatises. -- OCLC

Middle Eastern Manuscripts Online 1: Pioneer Orientalists (MEMO 1) consists of the Arabic manuscripts of Joseph Justus Scaliger (d. 1609), Franciscus Raphelengius (d. 1597) and Jacobus Golius (d. 1667) from the Leiden University Library, one of Europe's top repositories of Oriental manuscripts. These three collections are Leiden's oldest core collections of Arabic manuscripts. The Golius collection is particularly famous for its manuscripts on Islamic science.

All these manuscripts were acquired by the scholar Levinus Warner during his stay in Istanbul from 1644 until his death in 1665. This selection from the Warner Legacy to the Leiden University Libraries includes one autograph (Codex Orientalis 432), 10 unique manuscripts (Cod. Or. 498; 517; 801; 870; 1088; 1090; 1096; 1110; 1143; 1155; and 1175), and 11 manuscripts with unique parts (Cod. Or. 309; 333; 662; 697; 730; 765; 835; 870; 898; 917; and 923). The collection also includes several of Warner's diaries with research notes in various languages.

In addition to 5 autographs, the highlights of the collection include: the earliest dated manuscript in the collection (Arab O. 013) a dated copy of a unique arrangement of a rare treatise written by al-Ṣāḥib Tāǧ al-Dīn (d. 707/1307) produced in the year of the author’s death; two rare Mamluk treatises on horsemanship (Arab F.2); and an anonymous compilation (Arab O. 027) about the lives of the outstanding men who lived in Medina in the 12th/18th century.

Fully searchable database of primary source documents from the British National Archives that chronicle the politics, wars, administration, and diplomacy surrounding the Palestine Mandate and the Arab-Israeli conflict. Topics covered include the background to the establishment of the State of Israel, Black September, the Border wars of the 1950s, the British capture of Jerusalem, the Cold War in the Middle East, the formation of the United Arab Republic, Jewish terror groups, and milestones in the Palestine-Zionist tension and their impact on British policy leading to the Partition of 1948.

Contains original source material from the Foreign Office, Colonial Office, War Office and Cabinet Papers. Topics covered include: The Siege of Kut-al-Amara, The War in Mesapotamia and the capture of Baghdad in 1917, Introduction of the British Mandate, and the installation of King Faisal in 1921, The British administration in Baghdad, Gertrude Bell, advisor to the British administration, in both reports and memos, The Arab Uprising of 1920, Independence, and Iraq’s membership of the League of Nations in 1932, Coups d’etat in the 1930s and 1940s, The Baghdad Pact of 1955 and the military coup of 1958 leading to the establishment of a republic, The Cold War and Soviet intervention in Iraq, Kurdish unrest and the war in Kurdistan, Oil concessions and oil exploration, The Rise of Ba’athism and Saddam Hussein, The USSR-Iraq Treaty of Friendship in 1972, Iran-Iraq relations.

Multiple languages; Texts predominantly in German, also in English, French, Italian, and Latin, and occasionally in Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish, and Turkish. This was a dynamic period in Turkish, Russian, Middle Eastern, and Western European history, in which the foundations of the present-day spheres of influence were laid. The sources were published in Europe over a period of two centuries; they provide detailed insight, not only into the military hassles in the Ottoman-Russian relations, but also into the effects these hassles had on public opinion in Europe. Included are treaties, travel reports, decrees, etc. (OCLC) Contents of the set: 1. The origins, 1600-1800 -- 2. Shifts in the balance of power, 1800-1853 -- 3. The Crimean War, 1854-1856 -- 4. The end of the empires, 1857-1914. -- 4. The end of the empires, 1857-1914.

Multiple languages; Texts predominantly in German, also in English, French, Italian, and Latin, and occasionally in Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish, and Turkish. Series: The Eastern question; Variation: Eastern question (IDC Publishers) Abstract: The origins, 1600-1800: 193 monographs on Russian-Ottoman relations. This was a dynamic period in Turkish, Russian, Middle Eastern, and Western European history, in which the foundations of the present-day spheres of influence were laid. The sources were published in Europe over a period of two centuries; they provide detailed insight, not only into the military hassles in the Ottoman-Russian relations, but also into the effects these hassles had on public opinion in Europe. Included are treaties, travel reports, decrees, etc. (OCLC) Contents of the set: 1. The origins, 1600-1800 -- 2. Shifts in the balance of power, 1800-1853 -- 3. The Crimean War, 1854-1856 -- 4. The end of the empires, 1857-1914.

Part of the Slavic studies bundle. Multiple languages; Texts predominantly in German, also in English, French, Italian, and Latin, and occasionally in Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish, and Turkish. Series: The Eastern question; Variation: Eastern question (IDC Publishers) Abstract: The origins, 1600-1800: 193 monographs on Russian-Ottoman relations. This was a dynamic period in Turkish, Russian, Middle Eastern, and Western European history, in which the foundations of the present-day spheres of influence were laid. The sources were published in Europe over a period of two centuries; they provide detailed insight, not only into the military hassles in the Ottoman-Russian relations, but also into the effects these hassles had on public opinion in Europe. Included are treaties, travel reports, decrees, etc. (OCLC)Contents of the set: 1. The origins, 1600-1800 -- 2. Shifts in the balance of power, 1800-1853 -- 3. The Crimean War, 1854-1856 -- 4. The end of the empires, 1857-1914.

Part of the Slavic studies bundle. Multiple languages; Texts predominantly in German, also in English, French, Italian, and Latin, and occasionally in Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish, and Turkish. Series: The Eastern question; Variation: Eastern question (IDC Publishers) Abstract: The origins, 1600-1800: 193 monographs on Russian-Ottoman relations. This was a dynamic period in Turkish, Russian, Middle Eastern, and Western European history, in which the foundations of the present-day spheres of influence were laid. The sources were published in Europe over a period of two centuries; they provide detailed insight, not only into the military hassles in the Ottoman-Russian relations, but also into the effects these hassles had on public opinion in Europe. Included are treaties, travel reports, decrees, etc. (OCLC)Contents of the set: 1. The origins, 1600-1800 -- 2. Shifts in the balance of power, 1800-1853 -- 3. The Crimean War, 1854-1856 -- 4. The end of the empires, 1857-1914.