WikiIslam:Policies and Guidelines: Difference between revisions

Welcome to WikiIslam, the online resource on Islam.

Acceptable Contributions

In general, content on WikiIslam should:

1. be based on facts, references and Islamic sources
2. not support any kind of fringe theories unsupported by the majority of evidence found in recognized translations of the Qur'an, hadith and quotations from Islamic scholars.
3. related to criticism of Islam. We don't accept articles of a political nature.
4. free from vulgar, offensive, or slang language. The only exceptions being the necessary translation of an Islamic word/phrase or possibly an article in the Humor category
5. not be copied from other websites, unless something specific is being quoted and in that case it should be made clear that it's a quotation.
6. be written in a professional scholarly manner and where possible, should refrain from using sensationalist and extremist expressions and labels for maximum impact on the reader. This is extremely important. If any critique of Islam is expected to be taken seriously, it must follow these principles. Although it is very tempting to use dramatic and sensationalist language, it is best to let the evidence speak for itself. The same principle applies to humor and jokes. If you would like to contribute such articles to the wiki, please keep them confined to the Humor category. See the Article Style and Content Guide for details and examples.

With the exceptions of translations, content written by new editors should not exceed 30KB (page history shows the size). This helps existing editors to review your content and make sure it complies with guidelines before any more new work is done.

Becoming a Regular Editor

We understand that a newcomer on the site may not immediately understand how to make appropriate contributions. Our goal is to maximize user contributions, be fair and allow ample opportunities for users to receive feedback and improve their work so it is in compliance with the site guidelines.

In order to be a regular editor you should understand what the site is all about and the approach that is taken for criticism of Islam. Existing editors on the site will make every effort to initially guide you, but they do not have time to continually make corrections to your edits. If you are not able to take instructions and contribute to the site in an independent self-monitored way, it is best for you to not edit. However if you have suggestions of any kind or comments on an article, let us know on the Forum page. You can also work on Sandbox pages where you can create content that other users may use in the future and incorporate into the main content of the site.

When a user makes edits that need corrections, these corrections should be explained on the user's talk page and they need to respond acknowledging the message. After making two or three corrections for the same kinds of edits, if an editor still keeps making the same kinds of incorrect edits that have been explained on their talk page, simply revert future edits, ask them to see their talk page (in the edit summary) and consult other users and admins.

Copyrights

When using text or images from another website, make sure that the material is not copyrighted. If it is, please ask permission from the original content owner(s) before using it.

Copyright holders may contact WikiIslam to have their concerns addressed.

Libel

The goal of WikiIslam is to create an encyclopedic information source critical of Islam with all information being referenced through the citation of reliable published sources, so as to maintain a standard of verifiability.

For this reason, all contributors should recognize that it is their responsibility to ensure that material posted on WikiIslam is not defamatory. Libel or defamation is defined as the communication of a statement that makes a false claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may harm the reputation of an individual, business, product, group, government or nation.

It is WikiIslam policy to delete libelous material when it has been identified. This policy applies to living people.

Subject Guidelines

If you believe that you are the subject of a libelous statement on WikiIslam, please contact us with details of the article and error.

Viewpoint

At WikiIslam, one is not required to stick to a neutral viewpoint. However, we exhort you to use non-polemic and scholarly sources, and attribute statements wherever possible. Questionable or controversial statements without a source, or with a polemic source, may be removed in order to make our articles more reliable and worthwhile.

Potential contributors should also note that, unlike many other sites critical of Islam, WikiIslam is an international site with administrators, editors and contributors from all over the world. Our readership is also vast and not saturated by European or "Western" viewers, so our content should reflect this. Information on Islam in Asia or Africa is as important to us as information on Islam in Europe or the Americas.

Making References

See Help:Making References for a guide on how to cite general references, and see WikiIslam:Standardization for a guide on how to reference Islamic texts (Qur'an and hadith).

Usernames and Pages

Usernames should be chosen appropriately and should not be offensive or inflammatory in any way. Active users with over 50 constructive edits are welcome to post links on their user-pages as long as they are not linking to hateful/racist/pornographic or otherwise illegal content.

Discussions

The discussion pages for each article are there for discussing concerns directly relating to the article, such as inaccuracies, formatting and suggestions for further improvement. They are not there for debating the content of the article or for attacks on the site or users of the site. If your comment on an article's talk page does not directly relate to improving the article, it may be deleted without a response.

Honorifics

When discussing Muhammad, the first mention in an article and its conclusion should begin the qualifier, Prophet, i.e. "The Prophet Muhammad". The same applies to Jesus or Ganesha, i.e. "Jesus Christ" or "Lord Ganesha".

Addition honorifics such as "Muhammad (saw)" or "Allah (swt)" are not allowed in articles. The same applies to using an uppercase "H" in words such as "he", "him" or "her" in reference to a deity or Jesus. An exception to this rule would be the talk pages or pro-Islamic articles.

Sources

There are three types of sources:

Primary Sources

Primary sources are original materials, an artifact, a document, a recording, or other source of information that was created at the time under study. In an article about a book it would be the book itself. In the case of a person, it would be the subject itself. For the Qur'an and hadith we generally use the University of Southern California Muslim Students Association's Compendium of Muslim Texts. WikiIslam's criticism of Islam is based on its own sources, the Qur'an, hadith and Islamic scholars. So primary sources are not limited and may be freely used in articles.

Secondary Sources

Secondary sources are documents or recordings that relate or discuss information originally presented elsewhere. For example, a statement by a scholar about a certain battle in the history of Islam would be a secondary source. News articles that report on a development or an incident are also secondary sources. Statements of fact concerning Islam from polemic sources such as books, articles or commentaries by individuals such as Robert Spencer, Pamela Gellar, Mark A. Gabriel etc. are not to be used under any circumstances as references on WikiIslam. If you come across any such statements, remove them immediately.

Tertiary Sources

Tertiary sources are sources that rely upon primary and secondary sources. Unlike secondary sources, they attempt to provide a broad introductory overview of a topic. The New Encyclopedia of Islam would be an example. They may be used as well. There are a variety of encyclopedias.

Wikipedia

Copies of articles from Wikipedia are not allowed for various reasons. Instead, you can link directly to Wikipedia by using the [[w:Target article|Text]] feature or {{wp|article name}}. Some exceptions to this rule are allowed; please contact an administrator if you wish to create a copy of a Wikipedia article. One exception where a copy paste is allowed is where a Wikipedia article is going to be deleted or has been deleted.

Images can usually be safely copied from Wikipedia if available. Before copying them please check there are no issues with their license tags. Also copy the license tag, or include in the summary that its a free image from Wikipedia. Templates can be copied if needed.

Creating Content

Please do not recreate content which already exists in Wikipedia. On the other hand, if you want to create a short summary of a topic that is already on Wikipedia or would like to approach the same topic from a different angle, please do so. Also, WikiIslam is not restricted to just being an encyclopedia of Islam. It is there for you to make use of in contributing and arranging information about Islam in many ways. For examples of what kind of articles you can write, look at the links on the Main Page. Here are some ideas for good and bad articles:

Bad ideas

• Anything not directly related to criticism of Islam
• Anything that is political rather than religious, such as immigration, multiculturalism, or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
• An exact copy of a Wikipedia article

Good ideas

Practically anything that does not qualify for the bad ideas list. Just a few examples:

• Analysis of Islamic texts (Qur'an, hadiths and scholars)
• An essay or op-ed
• Expanding and wikifying a good forum post

Images

If an image adds value to an article and the loss of it would mean that people would not know something important, that image should be included.

Additional images used for 'illustration' purposes should not be used unless important information is being conveyed that could otherwise not be conveyed through text.

Images should be directly related to the article, i.e. they should not have a tenuous link to page content or be inserted for their shock or humor value.

If there are too many images related to a page, they can be moved to a gallery section or to a separate page (examples of both can be viewed here and here).

Articles at WikiIslam are not judged on their shock value, so images within written articles should be tasteful. For example, in an article about stoning, the least graphic image should be chosen. Or in an article about houseflies and bacteriophages, an electron micrograph of bacteriophages should be chosen over the closeup image of a fly (which some people may find sickening).

Multilingual Sites

All multilingual sites for WikiIslam are free to edit, administer and manage in any way their community likes (style or content) as long as our core guidelines are followed.

Style Guidelines

Generally, an article should begin with a short introduction that summarizes the most important content of the article. It should also end with a conclusion that does the same. The conclusion can also repeat in short the most important references in the article.

Pro-Islamic Content

Due to constant vandalism, disruptive editing, non-compliance with guidelines and a lack of time, we are currently not accepting pro-Islamic submissions. This change is only temporary, and our present list of pro-Islamic articles can still be viewed here. For debates and general discussions about Islam, please visit the FFI forum.