Basic Tips
Every word matters. With the exception of some common articles and conjunctions like “the”, “a”, “an”, “and”, etc., all words entered into the query box will be used as search terms.
Punctuation and Spelling matter. While we have tried to include alternate spellings in our search function, some may be omitted. If your initial search is unsuccessful, try using an alternate word or spelling.
Searches are not case sensitive. Searches for [Baghdad] will yield the same results as searches for [Baghdad] or even [bAgHdAd].
Keep your searches simple and focused. Always begin your searches using the most basic terms and build detail to narrow your results. As you narrow your search, use descriptive words to build levels of detail into your results. For example, if you are searching for a fatwa by Muhammad Abu Laylah on sharing prayer space with non-Muslim students at university, you might try searching for [Laylah] first. If this search yields too many results then it may be appropriate to narrow your search using multiple terms such as [Laylah university prayer] (note that that AND operator is default when a space is placed between search terms).
More Advanced Searches
Phrase searches may be performed by placing quotes around the phrase you wish to find. For example, the query [“Muhammad Abu Laylah”] may be used to as an alternate search term for the last example. Keep in mind, however, misspelling a single word inside the quotation marks may corrupt the entire search, so using single word searches will often yield better results.
Wildcard searches may be performed by placing an asterisk mark (*) after a word or portion of a word. For example, the query [Muham*] will return all fatwa entries containing the name “Muhammad” as well as entries for “Muhamed” and “Muhammed”.
Transliteration Guidelines
The IslamopediaOnline search function currently performs Latin character searches. For this reason, we have maintained the transliteration conventions of the International Journal of Middle East Studies in our fatwa translations.
