Indexing of the Qur’an Cairo, Egypt Dhu al Hijjah 15-16, 1409/ July 18-19, 1989

Abstract

A seminar was organized by the International Institute of Islamic Thought,
on Dhu al Hijjah 15-16, 1409/July 18-19, 1989, at Zamalek, Cairo, to discuss
the indexing of the Holy Qur’an.
In the first session, research papers and repom by members of the seminar
were presented. In the second and third sessions, the papers were discussed
from different angles. During the closing session, the recommendations
prepared by the drafting committee were discussed.
First: Project Objectives
The International Institute of Islamic Thought took the responsibility
for the task of the Islamization of knowledge. The natural approach would
be to make the two main sources of Islamic knowledge-the Qur’an and the
Sunnah-accessible to research scholars in the humanities and social sciences.
This project aims - during this stage-at analyzing the contents of the Qur‘anic
verses to classify them according to the different branches of knowledge,
and to arrange them under suitable headings, in order to make it easy for
research scholars to find the verses they want in the fields of the humanities
and social sciences.
Second: Indices and Concordances
Participants in the seminar exchanged consultations regarding whether
it is suitable to compile a list of topics (index) first, then proceed with the
classification process accordingly, or should the classification be completed
first on the basis of topics to be found, followed by the cornpilafion of an index.
After completing the discussion, it was decided to follow both approaches
simultaneously as indicated below: ...