An informational approach to document and intelligent retrieval systems : problems and alternatives for representing subjects in the Qur'anic text

Mohammed, Hani M. A (1991) An informational approach to document and intelligent retrieval systems : problems and alternatives for representing subjects in the Qur'anic text. Doctoral thesis, University of Wales Trinity Saint David.

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Abstract

This study is in response to the widespread dissatisfaction of Information Scientists in the Muslim World, who feel that Islamic literature deserved and required an Islamic classification scheme. Conceptually Muslim Information Scientists have attempted to establish an analytical subject bibliography which could help to develop a particular classification scheme. This has involved providing abstracts, directories and indexes to record the subject contents of all the materials relating to Islamic Studies. However, the classical Qur'anic exegeses and Hadith collections represent a particular problem to Information Scientists: indexing the Qur'anic exegeses and Hadith collections requires an initial operational list of subject headings of both the Qur'anic and Hadith texts. This study is based on an investigation of the terminology in Qur'anic text for the purpose of designing a Qur'anic retrieval system. The study makes use of conceptual verses and words as partial examples for the required task. These examples are used to test the factors affecting the design at both manual and automatic levels. At the manual level - the stage of presenting the Qur'anic text in a printed form - the examples are used to examine the effects of Qur'anic terminology on the commentators and to see how it affects the performance of the retrieval system. Also the characteristics of the Arabic language, as represented in Qur'anic vocabulary, are examined against the problems known to be encountered in constructing an efficient information retrieval. On the automatic level - the stage of presenting the Qur'anic text on a screen - the examples are used to examine the possibility of the Qur'an, in its stylistic form, being processed by the computer. The study is subdivided into six chapters. The first chapter outlines the demands that are placed upon Muslim Information Scientists. Also it gives a brief overview of the background to current researches on the Islamic literature, and shows the methodological framework used in the present study. The second chapter highlights the major philological, historical and theological aspects as indicated by various interpretations and tests the effect of these opinions on the performance of the retrieval system. The third chapter analyzes the function of vocabulary control as applied to the Qur'anic terminology and examines such a control in relation to features of the Arabic (Qur'anic) language. The fourth chapter examines the various treatments in the computational analysis area in relation to the Qur'anic style of calligraphy and structure. The fifth chapter presents the guidelines and recommendations to establish the Qur'anic retrieval system. Finally, the sixth chapter offers two examples of the Qur'anic retrieval system as it is applied to natural and social sciences.

Item Type: Thesis (Doctoral)
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BP Islam. Bahaism. Theosophy, etc
Z Bibliography. Library Science. Information Resources > Z665 Library Science. Information Science
Divisions: Theses and Dissertations > Doctoral Theses
Depositing User: EThOS Web Service
Date Deposited: 12 Aug 2019 10:55
Last Modified: 27 Jul 2023 13:49
URI: https://repository.uwtsd.ac.uk/id/eprint/1072

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