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WikiIslam:Scope and Article Relevance: Difference between revisions
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WikiIslam:Scope and Article Relevance (view source)
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==Article relevance== | ==Article relevance== | ||
According to its mission, WikiIslam aims to provide accurate and accessible information from traditional and critical perspectives on the beliefs, practices, and development of Islam. For this reason, the quality of the site’s content is a huge concern, and WikiIslam gives great care both to what is included and excluded. Islamic scholars have traditionally claimed that Islam is an all-encompassing way of life, and that everything from how one sleeps, keeps their hair and operates their government can and should be governed by its rules. The scope of what might be called “Islamic” is thus truly vast, and the mantle of Islam has been claimed for every intellectual movement under the sun, from fascism to communism to feminism. It is thus imperative that editors keep their focus firmly on the intended subject matter—the theological beliefs of Islamic scholars and laity and the history thereof. If the wiki deals with elements of history, philosophy, politics, or apologetics far outside the scope of these subjects, the form and focus of the wiki would be lost. For this reason, when thinking about creating a new article on the Wiki, the following questions should be asked of the subject matter of the article before it is even created: | According to its mission, WikiIslam aims to provide accurate and accessible information from traditional and critical perspectives on the beliefs, practices, and development of Islam. For this reason, the quality of the site’s content is a huge concern, and WikiIslam gives great care both to what is included and excluded. Islamic scholars have traditionally claimed that Islam is an all-encompassing way of life, and that everything from how one sleeps, keeps their hair and operates their government can and should be governed by its rules. The scope of what might be called “Islamic” is thus truly vast, and the mantle of Islam has been claimed for every intellectual movement under the sun, from fascism to communism to feminism. It is thus imperative that editors keep their focus firmly on the intended subject matter—the theological beliefs of Islamic scholars and laity and the history thereof. If the wiki deals with elements of history, philosophy, politics, or apologetics far outside the scope of these subjects, the form and focus of the wiki would be lost. For this reason, when thinking about creating a new article on the Wiki, the following questions should be asked of the subject matter of the article before it is even created: | ||
# Is this article about a belief or practice that is or has been widespread amongst Muslims, or does it chronicle the history of such a belief or a historical subject which is germane to such a belief? The Wiki is focused on the beliefs and practices of Muslims, though many Muslim politicians and ideologues have claimed that limitless causes and ideologies which are not actually related to the beliefs and practices of Muslims are “Islamic”, the fact is many of these things have only a tenuous connection to Islam at best. A smaller scope helps to improve the quality of the wiki, so when in doubt an editor should err on the side of caution and reject articles whose subjects do not seem firmly connected to Islamic theology or its history. | |||
# How widespread is the belief or practice that is the subject of the article?—Here two questions should be asked: (1) is this a belief which a common person living in a majority Muslim country would likely hear from their friends and family if they did not specifically seek it out and (2) is it attributable at some point to multiple sheikhs, imams, daa’is, writers, philosophers, religious and/or governmental institutions or is it the argument of a single person? | |||
# How relevant is the subject of the article to the Islamic belief or scripture upon which it is based?—Is the argument actually based on a reading of the original Islamic texts that is anywhere close to plausible, or does the argument read in such wild implications to the text as to be self-defeating? (e.g. while such things explicitly discussed and explained in Islamic scripture as embryology, sperm production, and mountain geology are worthy of discussion, highly interpretive topics such as “the prediction of sonic weapons in the Qur’an” must be deemed too distant from the text to be considered on the Wiki). | |||
===Article relevance flowchart=== | ===Article relevance flowchart=== | ||
The following flowchart should give clear, step-by-step guidance to those who remain unclear as to whether or not their article/content belongs on the wiki. | |||
==See Also== | ==See Also== | ||