Ministry of Science, Research & Technology Iranian Information & Documentation Center

(Research Center)

Proceedings of the Meeting & workshop on Development of a National IT Strategy

Focusing on Indigenous Content Development

Iran-Tehran October, 2nd & 3rd

Octobr,2004

16 Islamic contents on the internet Dr. Alireza Talebpour1 Abstracts The present paper provides a background on how the theological centers tried to incorporate IT technology in dissemination of Islamic Knowledge. Tebyan Institute was among the very first who adopted this strategy. Issues in content development of traditional theological sources for digital domain are discussed. Keywords: Islamic references, Propagation in internet, Digital library, Question and answer, Integration of information.

1. Introduction Advances in information technology have led to low cost, effective internet accessibility. We are witnessing its cultural impact around the world. Nowadays, we have progressed to a point where one can present ideas and opinions to a broad audience on a low budget. It has been a long time since this technology has been harnessed in the Islamic field. The major policy formulations on information networks announced by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution had fostered and nurtured this activity. Tebyan Institute was largely founded on the following bases:

1. To have an active and effective presence in the worldwide networks, to support like institutes in generation and presentation of information, and to provide any assistance and services necessary emphasizing the propagation of Islamic culture and thoughts.

2. Taking appropriate action in order to find international laws, Forming Information alliances with other countries especially Islamic countries in order to balance international information field and safeguard the national identity and culture and face universal sovereignty.

In the next two sections we report Tebyan's activities so far and its future plans. The result of these activities is in section 4.

1. PhD (Electronics) & Post-Sat’h in Theological Studies the information institute of Tebyan.

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2. Activities so far Tebyan institute has managed to gather a huge collection of Islamic contents in its website, by using near 200 experienced experts in different fields such as, software, researching, and managing during its three years of activity.

We can classify these data into two classes: Static data and dynamic data. 2.1. Static data There are four groups for this class:

1. Basic references like Quran and Hadith. 2. Educational books taught at the Islamic Theological Seminaries (Howzeh). 3. Reference books such as Fiqh (Jurisprudence) and Osul (principles) and

commentaries. 4. Public Islamic books.

Tebyan institute has worked so hard in all these fields. The volume of data gathered in addition to Tebyan's other activities such as answering different Questions and presentation of information on public culture, has reached 60 GB. The content subject breakdown will be explained in the following sections.

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2.1.1. Basic references In this section the Holy Quran has been presented in different translations and with 186 hadith books from Shi'ah in 62 titles (for example Osul and Forou'e Kafi and Vasay-al-Shia'a and Bihar-al-anvar) and also 85 copies of Sunni's hadith books in 16 titles (Musnad Ahmad, Sahih Bokhari, Sunan Daremi and Sunan Nasa'i).

The possibility of verbal searches in these sections speeds up the access to the data.

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2.1.2. Educational books of Howzeh All the main books in Howzeh from Jame-al-Moghaddanmat which is the beginning of preliminary level to the end of Kifayatein which is the end of Sat-h level, is displayed on this part. In addition to these two levels of Islamic course there is a complete course of Osul by Ayatollah Fazel (13 years) and a year of education in over Sat-h education in Fiqh by Ayatollah Zanjani.

The most important advantage of this part is the possibility of hearing the lectures explaining the subject chosen by the user. The volume of this section is around 20 GB.

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2.1.3. Reference books This part contains the books, compiled by the philosophers, religious Jurisprudents and other Islamic thinkers throughout the last fourteen centuries which all are reference books. Educational books and the books for religious jurisprudents are examples of different commentaries.

The number of these different copies is nearly 800 which are all available online on Tebyan's website. 2.1.4. Public Islamic books In the library section, you can find around 5000 copies of public Islamic books such as Prof. Motahhari's books and other books published by Moslem scholars which are easily accessible.

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2.2. Dynamic data Information offered on the sections: "Answering to religious questions.", "Members's daily articles" and " Celebrity sites", are Tebyan's dynamic Islamic data which its details are as it follows: 2.2.1. Question and answer In this section we have gathered more than 40000 questions answered which users ask them according to their needs and there are given by Tebyan's researching team. The volume of this section is continuously increasing and it is still being used.

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2.2.2. Weblog of members. A part of the site is for presenting information by Tebyan's members which are more than 80000 people. Members can present their writings, articles, and opinions in 18 different subjects, such as poetry, politics, religion and many other sub-categories.

2.2.3. Sites for the experts There are sites designed for 50 scientific celebrities which offer the opportunity of presenting their articles and researches to people who are interested in those fields.

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3. Plans in preparation There are many plans anticipated for gathering and presenting Islamic data. The important ones are as follows:

3.1. The data integration meeting Soon there would be a gathering of all producers of Islamic data whose number is more than 200 institutes. In this meeting, in addition to introducing and presenting activities, institutes can sell their available Islamic information and data.

Tebyan institute will use this information in its website by paying specified amount of money. 3.2. Promotion of other institutes Helping other integrator institutes in software and design fields gives them the opportunity of presenting their data on the internet. Following this aim Tebyan is in contact and conversation with more than 200 active institutes for transferring their information and data on its website with the purpose of public use.

3.3. Setting up Islamic portals One of the main activities which has been started in Tebyan's website and will be continued seriously is introducing Islamic websites and the possibility to search and find those sites using the related data. At the moment 400 Islamic sites have been introduced which we should manage to gather most of them using automatically and manually methods and to be known as Islamic portals.

4. The result Given the size of Islamic data available on Tebyan website which is around 60GBs, the variety of both static and dynamic data, maintaining accuracy and reliability is of paramount importance. Fortunately with 40000 visitors a day and 80000 confirmed members, this site has turned into the most important cultural site in Iran. Obviously by continuing this process Tebyan can play its role in the world of Islam.

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