WikiIslam:Policies and Guidelines
Welcome to WikiIslam, the online resource on Islam. Note that we are not a hate or extremist site. We allow Muslims to express their point of view in their own articles, and any articles or statements of a hateful nature will be deleted.
A quick guide to acceptable contributions
In general, content on WikiIslam should:
- be based on facts, references and Islamic sources
- 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.
- related to criticism of Islam. We don't accept articles of a political nature.
- 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
- 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.
- 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
In order to be a regular editor you must 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 so 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.
Policies
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.
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.
Guidelines
Guidelines are less restrictive than policies. They serve as official advice to gear the WikiIslam project in the right direction.
Sources
There are three types of sources:
- Primary sources are those such as the Qur'an, hadiths, and in an article about a book it would be the book itself. In the case of a person, it would be the subject itself; if John Doe said something about himself, his statement would be a primary source.
- In order to allow greater leeway in criticism of Islam, primary sources are not limited and may be freely used in articles. In other words, an editor should not remove a primary-sourced statement by asserting that primary sources are to be avoided.
- Secondary sources are typically based primary sources. For example, a statement by a scholar about a certain battle in the history of Islam would be a secondary source. The news articles "Fort Hood suspect condemned '09 shootings" and "Outcry over Malaysian child marriages" that report on a development or an incident are also secondary sources. One is encouraged to use secondary sources.
- Tertiary sources are sources that rely upon primary and secondary sources. The Columbia Encyclopedia 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. This means if there is something that is better defined in Wikipedia, let it stay there. 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. You should give primary importance to creating unique content which cannot exist in Wikipedia. This is what this website is for. 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 any way you want. 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
- Wikifying a good forum post
Style Guidelines
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.