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Introduction |
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This study was conducted to build an ‘Islamic Terminology Dictionary Database’ that encompasses various subjects such as politics, economics, society, culture, religion (Shari‘ah), history, and geography. The database is composed in a way that allows ‘one-source, multi-use’ in order to maintain its usability regardless of how the digital environment continues to change.
Islam represents one of the world’s largest civilizations, with more than 1.5 billion adherents in 57 counties. It served as a bridge between Eastern and Western civilization during the Medieval period and thereby furthered the development of world civilization. It also helped disseminate knowledge in many fields of the humanities and science. Into the 20th century, the religion of Islam and its role in society became of great interest against the backdrop of the discussion on the “clash of civilizations” between the Islamic world and the Western Christian world.
The Islamic world also merits interest in light of its increasing presence in international politics, diplomacy, and natural resource production. We take particular interest in it because of recent events such as the 2011 ‘Arab Spring’ in Tunisia, Egypt, and neighboring nations; the resulting civil wars and sectarian strife in Syria and Yemen; and the senseless atrocities committed by terrorist organizations like Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. In fact, Korea and the Islamic world are pursuing cooperation in more areas, from energy and construction, which has been ongoing for decades, to medicine, healthcare, ICT, halal food, cyber security, Hallyu, and more.
Understanding of Islamic terminology in Korea is still lacking. Many Islamic or relevant newly-coined terms have come into common use in the domestic media such as Islamic finance, halal food, Jasmine Revolution, takaful insurance, sukuk bonds, Taliban, da'wah (invitation to Islam), and waqf (inalienable religious endowment). However, there are not yet any books or databases that precisely define them. These are necessary for the Koreans to build expertise in academic and practical exchange with the Middle East and the Islamic world more generally. There is already a great deal of research being done in Korea on the Islamic world, but most of it has been conducted by individual researchers or only about specific topics that are of passing interest at any given time. Relatively less effort has yet been made in the development of systems that can deliver the findings of such research to the general public in a comprehensive and systematic way. In this light, the construction of an ‘Islamic Terminology Dictionary Database’ satisfies the following purposes and needs:
1. A database for so-called one-source, multi-use that allows any content to be used on various platforms.
2. The database comprises the ‘text database,’ which corresponds to the body of the database, and the ‘multimedia database,’ which consists of references.
3. A committee was formed to determine entries and to collect data in consideration of the requirements and general understanding of the Koreans. For instance, the database engenders not only historical figures and traditional fields of art, which would be included as a matter of course, but also contemporary figures and fields, even video art.
4. A committee was established to standardize Islamic terms in Korean and indicate years/periods. Namely, Arabic, Persian, and Turkish terms, indicated differently by different academics and journalists, are indicated as much as possible in accordance with ‘loanword orthography,’ and new notation principles were defined to reflect the characteristics of each language. Also a new nomenclature was established for indicating years and periods in both the Christian and Islamic calendars.
5. This high-quality specialized terminology database comprehensively and systematically offers basic data about the Islamic world, and the public can use it to determine whether information they have is correct.
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Expect Effect / Research Utilization |
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Project Name : |
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Research Title :
[KRM Task Information
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Chief of Research : Kyoo-Seok Yeon
Research Institution : HANKUK UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN STUDIES
Research Period : 3 Years(September 1, 2012 – August 31, 2015)
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