Website of the Week: Islamic Texts At Your Fingertips

I realized that I have missed featuring a website that I enjoy over the past two weeks because of the commotion over my university's trip into the NCAA finals. But now that the NCAA is over, life and blogging should be back to normal :)

The Muslim Students Association of the University of Southern California has compiled a great resource for anyone interested in taking a closer look at Islamic texts, mainly the Quran and the Hadith of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). The USC-MSA Compendium of Muslim Texts is a valuable resource for anyone looking up specific verses in the Quran as the website has a long list of categories in which the verses are divided. It provides 3 versions of translated explanations of the verses (Ali, Pickthall, Shakir) which gives the reader a better idea of what the Arabic words in the Quran mean to different scholars.

The section on sunnah (the actions and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad) provides insight on the science of hadith, as well as translations of the most prominent collections including Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim.

The special topics section is also a treat, with articles and information on on economics, human relations, history, law, etc in Islam.

The website also includes more general information about Islam, including the five pillars, "who is Allah?", biography of Prophet Muhammad, commentary on Quranic verses and more.

Whether you are a Muslim looking for a specific verse on an specific issue or a non-Muslim interested in learning more about Islam through primary sources, this is one of the best sites on the www to find such information. The website is also very easy to navigate. Happy surfing!

[technorati tags: Islam, online information, Quran, Prophet Muhammad]