View source for Wiki143:Manual of Style/Islam-related articles

{{Short description|Guidelines for editing Islam-related articles}}
{{See also|Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Arabic|Help:Arabic}}
{{style-guideline|MOS:ISLAM|WP:MOSISLAM}}
The purpose of this supplementary manual to the [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style|Manual of Style]] is to establish guidelines for editing [[Islam]]-related articles, ensuring they adhere to a [[Wikipedia:Neutral point of view|neutral]], [[Wikipedia:Encyclopedic style|encyclopedic style]] and maintain a consistent format for [[Wikipedia:Readability|readability]]. These guidelines are not absolute rules; different approaches may be equally valid. However, consistency across articles improves readability, usability, and ease of editing, while also helping to minimize unnecessary [[Wikipedia:Content disputes|content disputes]]. This manual remains open to [[Wikipedia:Proposals|proposals]], [[Wikipedia:Discussion|discussion]], and revision by editors.

A key challenge in editing Islam-related articles is determining [[Wikipedia:Reliable sources|reliable sources]], as opinions on this vary among editors. The most crucial requirement is that all sources comply with Wikipedia's three core content policies:
#[[Wikipedia:No original research|No original research]] – Articles should be based on published, verifiable sources rather than personal interpretation.
#[[Wikipedia:Verifiability|Verifiability]] – Claims must be supported by reliable, publicly accessible sources.
#[[Wikipedia:Neutral point of view|Neutral point of view]] – Content should be balanced, without bias toward any particular perspective.
Adhering to these policies ensures that Islam-related articles maintain high standards of accuracy, reliability, and neutrality in line with Wikipedia’s editorial principles.

{{style}}

==General form of articles==
Islam-related articles should generally follow these structure and formatting guidelines:

* The first sentence should include the [[Wikipedia:Article titles|article title]] in bold and provide a clear definition of the subject.{{efn|Exceptions are made for descriptive titles that are self explanatory.}} {{crossref|(See [[Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Arabic)]].)}}
* Articles should begin with general information before covering specific details later. For lengthy topics, separate articles should be created with a main article link (using {{tl|main}}) for in-depth discussions.
* At the end of each article, the following [[MOS:APPENDIX|standard appendices]] should be included in this order:
** "See also" – for closely related articles.
** "Notes" and "References" – to support the article's reliability.
** "Further reading" and "External links" – for relevant web resources.
* Each article should be [[Wikipedia:Categorization|categorized]] under at least one Islam-related category under [[:Category:Islam]] for proper classification.

== Grammatical standardization ==
{{main|Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Arabic}}
===Arabic transliteration===
{{further|Romanization of Arabic}}
As a general rule, [[Arabic diacritics]] (e.g. {{char|{{!xt|{{lang|ar|ـُ  ـِ ـَ ــٰ ـٓ آ ٱ ـْـ ئ ؤ إ أ}}}}}} etc.) over and under the [[Arabic letters|letters]], and [[apostrophe]]-like variants (e.g. {{char|{{!xt|’ ʻ ʾ ʿ ᾿ ῾ ‘ ’ }}}}), other than the [[straight apostrophe]] ({{char|{{bxt|'}}}}), should not be used in article titles {{crossref|
see [[MOS:APOSTROPHE]] and [[WP:TITLESPECIALCHARACTERS]]).}} They should also not be used in the article's body text, except in the "[[Etymology]]" section, and occasionally the first sentence of the [[Wikipedia:Lead paragraph|lead section]].

If a non-standard form of transliteration is to be used, it must be the [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Arabic#Common transcription|common transcription]], if a large majority of references in English use the same transcription or if a reliable source shows that an individual self-identifies with a particular transcription.{{efn|Per {{section link|Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Arabic#Common transcription}}.}} For example, {{Y}}{{nbsp}}[[Mecca]] rather than {{N}}{{nbsp}}[[Makkah]], {{Y}}{{nbsp}}[[mosque]] rather than {{N}}{{nbsp}}[[masjid]]. Otherwise, a [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Arabic#Basic transcription|basic transcription]] should be used which uses a systematic convention of rendering Arabic scripts {{crossref|(see {{section link|Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Arabic#Transliteration}}.)}} The characters representing the [[ayin]] ({{Script/Arabic|ع}}) and the [[hamza]] ({{Script/Arabic|ء}}) are not omitted (except when at the start of a word) in the basic form, and both are represented by the straight apostrophe ({{char|{{bxt|'}}}}).

[[Words of Arabic origin]] should be written out in lower case, except at the beginning of a sentence, and [[Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Text_formatting#Foreign_terms|italicized]] using {{tlx|lang|ar}}, except when the word has passed into common English vocabulary {{crossref|(see {{section link|Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Non-English terms}}).}} For example, ''[[fiqh]]'', ''[[kharaj]]'', and ''[[wudu]]'' should usually be italicized; [[jihad]] and [[hadith]] should not. [[Proper names]] are exempt from these rules as they should always be capitalized and never italicized.

Articles should include the original Arabic using {{tlx|langx}}, and its [[WP:MOSAR#Strict transliteration|strict transliteration]] using {{tlx|transliteration|ar}} on the first line. For example, in ''[[Shahada]]'' the first line is {{nowrap|{{xt|'''''Shahada '''''({{langx|ar|الشَّهَادَةُ}} {{Transliteration|ar|aš-šahādatu}})}}}}. If you do not know the Arabic, place {{tlx|Arabic script needed}} at the top of the talk page to mark the article for attention by someone who does.

===Translation===
{{Further|Wikipedia:Naming conventions (use English-language sources)}}
Arabic terms should be translated into standard English wherever possible without compromising the meaning of the text. For example, '[[Allah]]' should be translated as '[[God]]'. However, there are cases when translation is discouraged when it would risk obscuring the special meaning of this term as used in Islamic literature. For instance, a [[literal translation]] of [[Deen]] as 'path' would be suboptimal; 'way of life' might be a better option.

==Templates==
Various templates useful when editing Islam-related articles can be found at [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Islam-related articles/Templates]]; for other templates please see [[Wikipedia:Template index]].

== Islamic honorifics ==
{{copyedit section}}
{{Under discussion|section|talk=Proposal:_clarify_"user-generated"_in_MOS:CALLIGRAPHY}}
{{shortcut|MOS:ISLAMHON|MOS:CALLIGRAPHY}}
In keeping with the [[Wikipedia:Neutral point of view|neutral]] nature of Wikipedia, Islamic honorifics should generally be omitted from articles (whether Arabic or English), except where they are part of quotations or images.

Images containing Islamic honorifics or calligraphy should have a well-documented usage outside of Wikipedia and not be [[User-generated content|user-generated]].

===Allah===
{{shortcut|MOS:ALLAH|MOS:SWT}}
"Allah" should be replaced with its translation, "God", unless used as part of an English-language quote. The first occurrence of "God" in the article should be something to the effect of the following: {{code|<nowiki>[[God in Islam|God]]</nowiki>}}.

When referencing a deity by a personal pronoun (e.g. "he" or "his"), the pronoun should not be [[Capitalization|capitalized]] except as demanded by [[Capitalization in English|standard grammar]] (i.e. at the beginning of a sentence, but not in the middle of one). Refer to [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Capital letters#Religion|the Manual of Style's section on capital letters]].

''Allah'' has many honorifics, the most common being 

*'''SWT''' or the fuller '''{{transliteration|ar|subḥānahu wa-taʿālā|italic=no}}''', meaning "praised and exalted is He (Allah)"—'''''recommended action is to remove'''''.

===Quran===
* 'Holy Quran' (or 'Holy Qur'an', 'Holy Koran', etc.) should be replaced with just 'Quran', as calling a book "Holy" is making a value judgment that violates [[Wikipedia:Neutral point of view|Wikipedia's neutral point of view policy]]. Referring to a translation that has a value judgment in its title is an exception.

===Muhammad===
{{shortcut|MOS:PBUH|MOS:SAWW|MOS:MUHAMMAD}}
Honorifics for [[Muhammad]] should generally not be used in articles. The [[Salawat]] article discusses these honorifics in more detail, the most common ones being:
*'''The Prophet''' or '''(The) Holy Prophet''' (including with a lowercase 'h') in place of, or preceding, "[[Muhammad]]"; or just '''Prophet''' preceding "Muhammad"—'''''recommended action is to simplify and NPOV to just "Muhammad"''''' except when it is the first reference in an article, or the first reference in the lead, in which case it may be rendered as "the [[Islamic]] prophet [[Muhammad]]" if necessary.
*'''PBUH''', or the fuller "[[peace be upon him]]" (and the Arabic equivalents), after Muhammad or other Islamic prophets—'''''recommended action is to remove'''''.
*'''SAW''', '''SAWW''', '''saws''', '''SM''' or the fuller version '''{{transliteration|ar|ṣallā 'llahu ʿalayhi (wa-ʾālihi) wa-sallam|italic=no}}''', variants of PBUH, sometimes used after "Muhammad"—'''''recommended action is to remove'''''.
*'''ﷺ''' (Unicode U+FDFA) Arabic [[Ligature (writing)|ligature]] for {{transliteration|ar|ṣallā 'llahu ʿalayhi wa-sallam|italic=no}}—'''''recommended action is to remove'''''.

===Angels and prophets===
An angel or a prophet has the honorific:

* '''AS''' or the fuller '''{{transliteration|ar|alayhi-as-salam|italic=no}}''', for example, Jesus (AS)—'''''recommended action is to remove'''''.

===Companions===
Capitalization of "Companions of Muhammad" when referring to those who knew Muhammad (the ''[[Sahaba]]'')—corrective action is to write in lowercase in keeping with [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Capital letters]].

There are also other honorifics for companions all of which can be abbreviated to:

* '''RA''' or the fuller versions '''{{transliteration|ar|raḍiya 'llahu taʿālā|italic=no}}''' ('''{{transliteration|ar|ʿanhu/ʿanhā/ʿanhum/ʿanhumā|italic=no}}''')–for a {{transliteration|ar|sahabi}}, a {{transliteration|ar|sahabiyyah}}, or plural {{transliteration|ar|sahaba}}–'''''recommended action is to remove'''''.

===Other persons===
Honorifics may also include:

* '''RU''' or the fuller version '''{{transliteration|ar|raḥmatu 'llah alayhi|italic=no}}'''–for ''highly recognized Islamic scholars''—'''''recommended action is to remove'''''.
* '''[[Hadrat]]''', '''Hadhrat''', '''Hazret''', or '''Hazrat''', similar to the English "His Honor" or "His Majesty"—'''''recommended action is to remove'''''.
* '''Hazretleri''', an honorific sometimes appearing after the names of respected Muslim personalities, such as imams–'''''recommended action is to remove'''''.
* '''[[Hujja]]''', '''[[Hujjat al-Islam]]''', or '''Hujjat Allah''', honorific title meaning "proof of Islam" or "proof of God"—'''''recommended action is to remove'''''.

== Words to watch ==
The use of the word ''[[terrorism]]'' or ''[[terrorist]]'' can be [[Wikipedia:Contentious|contentious]]; see {{section link|Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Words to watch#Contentious labels}}. Its use should be decided on a case-by-case basis.

==Categorisation==
Due to the huge number of Islam articles present, as well as to address the problem of 'dumping' new Islam articles in [[:Category:Islam]] (and similarly for other subcategories), appropriate placement of articles in categories is required. This has been done to some extent, but quite often new editors are unaware of more technical categories (e.g. [[:Category:Quranic exegesis]]). Of course an article may be (and usually is) placed in more than one category, but to avoid cluttering categories the number of categories any given article is placed into should be kept to a minimum.

===Islam category===
With respect to the 'dumping' problem mentioned above, it is requested that editors check [[:Category:Islam]] frequently, as this is the place where many new Islam articles are placed, but where the articles could (sometimes clearly) be better placed in at least one subcategory of [[:Category:Islam]]. Currently, there are a handful of articles on the Islam category page.

Criteria that should be satisfied for inclusion of an Islam-related article in the Islam category are:

* Articles that are clearly representative of a major and well known aspect of Islam, such as [[Allah]], [[Quran]] and [[Muhammad]].
* Articles that don't satisfy the above criterion and cannot at present be satisfactorily placed in a subcategory of the Islam category (sort of like a 'holding area').

===Divisions of Islam===
There is a [[:Category:Islamic branches]] for placing articles on various sects in Islam.

====Sunni, Shi'a, Sufi, and Ahmadiyya Islam====
These four sects have their own categories, in fact they are subcategories of [[:Category:Islamic branches]], which is a subcategory of [[:Category:Islam]].

===People===
There are many Islam articles that are about Muslims. These articles should be placed in the appropriate category such as [[:Category:Muslims]] or a subcategory thereof such as, [[:Category:Caliphs]], [[:Category:Imams]] and [[:Category:Muslims by nationality]]. Only the most notable or famous Muslims should be placed in [[:Category:Muslims]].

===Stubs===
There is currently one stub category with 9 subcategories: 

*[[:Category:Islam stubs]] – add {{tl|Islam-stub}} near the end of an article to add it to this category.
** [[:Category:Ahmadiyya stubs]]
** [[:Category:Islamic biography stubs]] – add {{tl|Islam-bio-stub}} near the end of an article to add it to this subcategory.
** [[:Category:Islam by country stubs]]
** [[:Category:Islamic studies book stubs]]
** [[:Category:Mosque stubs]]
** [[:Category:Islamic organization stubs]]
** [[:Category:Quran stubs]]
** [[:Category:Shia Islam stubs]]‎
** [[:Category:Sufism stubs‎]]

==References==
{{main|Wikipedia:Citing sources}}

As with any good encyclopedia, reliable sources should be given in each article. References to sources are of two types: those within the main text of an article (for example, a Quranic quote) and those at the end of an article. To maintain some type of standard in citing reliable sources, the following are suggestions towards this end.

===Articles lacking references===
Articles that have no references at the end of an article should have the {{Tl|Unreferenced}} tag at the top of the article. 

Even with references at the end, certain statements in the main text of the article may still be unsubstantiated, in which case the {{Tl|Citation needed}} tag should be placed immediately after the claim.

===References within main text===
{{main|Wikipedia:Parenthetical referencing}}

Apart from the parenthetical referencing convention of writing the author's name and year of publication of source in brackets after the end of a sentence or paragraph, more specific citations for [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Islam|WikiProject Islam]] include the following:

====Quran translations====
{{main|List of translations of the Quran}}

There is no general consensus on which translation is to be used for Islam articles at Wikipedia. However, in any given article, any translation(s) from the [[Quran]] should quote the same translation source (e.g. Yusuf Ali) in that article (but not necessarily this same source in another article), unless comparing different translations or giving evidence for the meaning of a certain verse. 

It is recommended that template {{Tlx|Qref}} and {{Tlx|Cite Quran}} be used to quote verses from the Quran, which will provide an inline-superscripted link to quran.com or the [[USC-MSA Compendium of Muslim Texts|USC-MSA]] online translations of [[Abdullah Yusuf Ali|Yusuf Ali]], [[Marmaduke Pickthall|Pickthall]], [[Mustafa Khattab]] and [[Mohammed Habib Shakir|Shakir]]. Other translators can also be referenced using the template.

====Quran and Hadith====
{{shortcut|MOS:ISLAMOR}}
The [[Quran]] and the [[Hadith]] are considered to be primary sources, as defined in [[WP:PRIMARY]]. Therefore, they should not be quoted to make an argument or imply a particular interpretation unless one can also cite a reliable secondary source that supports that usage. Primary sources may only be used on Wikipedia to make straightforward, descriptive statements of facts that can be verified by any educated person with access to the source but without further, specialized knowledge. But it's a good idea to quote the Quran and Hadith to explain a topic, if they are cited in reliable secondary sources. For articles and sections where only Quran and Hadith are cited without secondary sources, use the templates {{tl|Primary sources}} or {{tl|Religious text primary}}, or inline tag {{tl|Primary source inline}}.

====Religious sources====
{{seealso|Wikipedia:Reliable source examples#Religious sources}}
In Islamic branches with organized academies or recognized theological experts in religious doctrine and scholarship, the proceedings of official religious bodies and the journals or publications of recognized and well-regarded religious academies and experts can be considered reliable sources for religious doctrine and views where such views represent significant viewpoints on an article subject. Ordination alone does not generally ensure religious expertise or reliability. Absent evidence of stature or a reputation for expertise in a leading, important religious denomination or community, the view of an individual minister or theologian is ordinarily not reliable for representing religious views.

Secondary sources are not necessarily from recent years – or even centuries. The sacred or original text(s) of the religion will always be primary sources, but any other acceptable source may be a secondary source in some articles. For example, the works of [[Al-Ghazali]] are secondary sources for an [[Asharite]] perspective on many topics, but are primary sources for the [[Al-Ghazali]] article.

===References at end of article===
{{main|Wikipedia:Citation templates}}

References at the end include books, journals and many other types of sources. The citation templates for these are suggested for use.

==Media==
{{main|Wikipedia:Media}}

===Images===

See also [[Talk:Muhammad/images]]

{{main|Wikipedia:Images|Wikipedia:Uploading images|Wikipedia:File copyright tags}}
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== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

==See also==
*[[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Arabic]]
*[[Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Arabic)]]
*[[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Islam-related articles/Templates]]
*[[Help:Arabic]]
*[[Wikipedia:WikiProject Islam]]
*[[:Category:Islam]]

[[Category:Wikipedia Manual of Style (religion)]]