Vector space model for Arabic information retrieval — application to “Hadith” indexing

The Arabic language is one of the most important languages because it is the sacred and liturgical language of Islam, one of the influential monotheistic religions of our times. In the post-9/11 aftermath, Islam suddenly dominated western actuality for the remaining years of the present decade. Al-Qurpsilaan - The Reading par Excellence - and ldquoHadithrdquo - Saying - represent the two fundamental scriptural sources of Islamic Legislation. Specifically, ldquoHadithrdquo, or Prophetic Traditions, are sayings and doings of the Prophet of Islam (Peace and Blessings be upon Him). Researchers need automatic search tools within large ldquoHadithrdquo databasesto access one of the original sources of Islam. For this purpose, we describe the development of AuthenTique, an updated automatic text mining search tool, based on the vector space model (VSM). The aim is to allow the provision of a list of ldquoHadithsrdquo classified according to their degrees of similarity based on a given userpsilas query.