Research Guides: Islamic Law: Introductory Sources

Introductory Sources

Welcome

The sources recommended in this guide are only a sample of what's available in our collection on Islamic law. If you don't see what you need, contact us using the information to the left! We are available for quick questions or for private research consultation by appointment.

Encyclopedias

The Encyclopaedia of Islam
Available in print and electronic formats with three editions dating back to 1913.

Encyclopaedia of the Qur’an
Encyclopedia covering all aspects of the Qur’an including qur’anic terms, concepts, personalities, place names, cultural history and exegesis as well as essays on important themes and subjects within qur’anic studies.
English language encyclopedia covering all aspects of the Qur’ān including qur’ānic terms, concepts, personalities, place names, cultural history and exegesis as well as essays on important themes and subjects within qur’ānic studies. This site also includes 62 Early Printed Western Qur’āns Online and the Electronic Qur’ān. Concordance.

Encyclopaedia of Islam editor-in-chief, M. Mukarram Ahmed
Encyclopaedia of Islamic law and jurisprudence
Multi-volume set: v. 1. Basic aspects of Islamic law; v. 2. Dimensions of Islamic law; v. 3. Islamic law and society; v. 4. Islamic law and family; v. 5. Islamic law and marriage; v. 6. Islamic law and divorce; v. 7. Islamic law and security; v. 8. Islamic law and criminology; v. 9. Jurisprudence under Islamic law; v. 10. Islamic law and endowment; v. 11. Islamic law and human rights
Encyclopaedia of Islamic law
v. 1. Concepts of Islamic law; v. 2. Foundations of Islamic law; v. 3. Islamic law in practice; v. 4. Civil law in Islam; v. 5. Family law in Islam; v. 6. Law of marriage and divorce in Islam; v. 7. Law of Waqf in Islam; v. 8. Criminal law in Islam; v. 9. Jurisprudence in Islam; v. 10. Law of governance in Islam
Encyclopedia of Islamic law: a compendium of the views of the major schools
Based on two main Arabic sources: al-Fiqh alal madhdhab al-arbaah and al-Fiqh alal madhdhab al-khamsa

Oxford Islamic Studies Online
This authoritative, dynamic resource brings together the best current scholarship in the field for students, scholars, government officials, community groups, and librarians to foster a more accurate and informed understanding of the Islamic world. Oxford Islamic Studies Online features reference content and commentary by renowned scholars in areas such as global Islamic history, concepts, people, practices, politics, and culture, and is regularly updated as new content is commissioned and approved.
Oxford Islamic Studies Online features articles, biographies, primary texts, Qur'anic materials, and books by scholars in areas such as global Islamic history, concepts, people, practices, politics, and culture. Articles come from The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World, The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World, The Islamic World: Past and Present, The Oxford Dictionary of Islam, The Oxford History of Islam, and What Everyone Needs To Know About Islam. The Koran Interpreted (a verse translation by A.J. Arberry) and The Qur'an (a prose translation by M.A.S. Abdel Haleem) are included, as is the first electronic version of Hanna E. Kassis's A Concordance of the Qur'an.
Encyclopaedia Islamica
Based on the abridged and edited translation of the Persian Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif-i Buzurg-i Islāmī. A unique feature of the Encyclopaedia Islamica Online lies in the attention given to Shiʿi Islam.
Encyclopaedia Islamica Online is based on the abridged and edited translation of the Persian Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif-i Buzurg-i Islāmī, one of the most comprehensive sources on Islam and the Muslim world. A unique feature of the Encyclopaedia Islamica Online lies in the attention given to Shiʿi Islam and its rich and diverse heritage. In addition to providing entries on important themes, subjects and personages in Islam generally, Encyclopaedia Islamica Online offers the Western reader an opportunity to appreciate the various dimensions of Shiʿi Islam, the Persian contribution to Islamic civilization, and the spiritual dimensions of the Islamic tradition. ####Encyclopaedia Islamica Online is automatically updated whenever a new volume has been published. New content will be added every year in alphabetical order. The project started with the letter A in 2008 and is expected to be completed in 2023.

Dictionaries

Primary Sources - Qur'an and Hadith

A note about translations

There are many authoritative translations in other languages available in our collection. Please consult the reference staff if you have a specific title or would like to inquire about translations in another language.

The Sources

The sources of Islamic Law are the Qur'an and the Sunnah (the traditions of the Prophet). Most of these texts have been digitized in various translations and are available on the web.

In addition to the web collections below, the Harvard University Libraries hold tremendous collections on the sources--in Arabic and English as well as Western European Languages. Please consult HOLLIS or a reference librarian for further assistance.

Qur'an

The Noble Qur'an
Translations of the Qur'an.
Al-Tafsir.com
Translations of the Holy Qur’an in various languages. Please note that not all of the following translations are authentic.
The Holy Qur'an : text, translation & commentary / by Abdullah Yusuf Ali.
English and Arabic in parallel columns.
The Gracious Quran : a modern-phrased interpretation in English / Ahmad Zaki Hammad.
Arabic-English parallel ed.

Hadith Collections

Collections of Ahadith
Collections include:
Sahih Bukhari صحيح البخاري
Sahih Muslim صحيح مسلم
Sunan al-Nasa'i سنن النسائي
Sunan Abi Dawud سنن أبي داود
Jami` al-Tirmidhi جامع الترمذي
Sunan ibn Majah سنن ابن ماجه

Al-Jami' al-Kabir li-Kutub al-Turath (Digital Book Collection)

al-Jāmiʻ al-kabīr li-kutub al-turāth al-Islāmī wa-al-ʻArabī [CD-ROM] : akthar min 30000 mujallad ḥāsūbī, akthar min 2600 ʻunwān kitāb, akthar min 1400 ʻunwān yanfaridu bi-hi al-barnāmaj, al-iṣdār 5.0, al-naskhah al-dhahabīyah al-muṭawwarah, 9Extrenal H.D)
A large collection of Islamic and Arabic heritage books Ver 5.0. Law School Islamic Ref - hard disk is installed on both PCs next to Islamic Law Collection in L1N.

Books

A note about books and catalogues

A good place to start is the Harvard online public catalogue called Hollis. General books dealing with Islamic law are catalogued under Islamic Law. Other topics are catalogued with the topic--marriage for example and Islamic law. To find the application of Islamic law in a specific country, search for Islamic Law and a particular country like Egypt. At Harvard, most materials on Islamic law will be found in HLSL, Widener and Andover-Harvard Theological Library.

If you are interested in knowing about books at other libraries, WorldCat is an excellent resource. Here you will access to the collections at major research libraries all over the world. Search terms are the same as for Hollis.

Bibliographies

Islamic Law: A Bibliography of Recent Works Published in English
This bibliography covers English-language books and articles within books that discuss Islamic law. The titles have all been published since 2003 and are held in the Library of Congress. The listing is divided into three sections: works on Islamic law in general, works on the history of Islamic law, and works devoted to a specific area of law.
Oxford Bibliography on Hadith by J.A.C. Brown
Lists major hadith collections in Arabic and translations.

Introductory Books in English

Introductory Books in Arabic

Related Books in the Harvard Libraries

Materials from the Harvard libraries on Islamic law and jurisprudence
Preset catalog search so you can browse the Harvard libraries' collection.
Islamic Manuscripts (HathiTrust Digital Library)
Over 900 Islamic manuscripts from U. of Michigan.

Journals

Subject-Specific and Multidisciplinary Indexes for Articles

Index Islamicus
IndexIslamicus, produced by the Islamic Bibliography Unit at Cambridge University Library, is a bibliography of publications in European languages on all aspects of Islam and the Muslim world. Index Islamicus provides access to over 2,000 journals and series. Coverage includes 1906-present.
Index Islamicus, produced by the Islamic Bibliography Unit at Cambridge University Library, is a bibliography of publications in European languages on all aspects of Islam and the Muslim world. Index Islamicus provides access to over 2,000 journals and series. It also covers conference proceedings, monographs, multi-authored works, and book reviews.

Index Islamicus, 1665-1905: a bibliography of articles on Islamic subjects in periodicals and other collective publications
Print edition of the above index for earlier years (1665-1905).

Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies
MECAS "is a systematic and non-evaluative index to research, policy, and scholarly discourse on the countries and peoples of the Middle East, Central Asia, and North Africa." Coverage: 1900 & earlier - present
is a systematic and non-evaluative index to research, policy, and scholarly discourse on the countries and peoples of the Middle East, Central Asia, and North Africa.
JSTOR
This full-text database spans many disciplines, primarily in the humanities and social sciences.
Includes all titles in the JSTOR collection, excluding recent issues. JSTOR (www.jstor.org) is a not-for-profit organization with a dual mission to create and maintain a trusted archive of important scholarly journals, and to provide access to these journals as widely as possible. Content in JSTOR spans many disciplines, primarily in the humanities and social sciences. For complete lists of titles and collections, please refer to http://www.jstor.org/about/collection.list.html.
PAIS International (Harvard Login)
Multidisciplinary resource.

"PAIS indexes publications in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. The database is comprised of abstracts of thousands of journal articles, books, directories, conference proceedings, government documents and statistical yearbooks."
PAIS International indexes the public and social policy literature of public administration, political science, economics, finance, international relations, law, and health care, International in scope, PAIS indexes publications in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. The database is comprised of abstracts of thousands of journal articles, books, directories, conference proceedings, government documents and statistical yearbooks.
Academic Search Premier (Harvard Login)
A multi-disciplinary database that includes citations and abstracts from over 4,700 scholarly publications (journals, magazines and newspapers).
Academic Search Premier (ASP) is a multi-disciplinary database that includes citations and abstracts from over 4,700 scholarly publications (journals, magazines and newspapers). Full text is available for more than 3,600 of the publications and is searchable.
Multidata Online
MultiDataOnline provides full text from and bibliographic citations to selected newspapers and periodicals from the Arab world in Arabic, English, and French. MultiDataOnline consists of five databases: 1."General News" provides full text and covers 52 dailies and weeklies since 1994; 2. "Specialized Periodicals" provides bibliographic citations from more than 225 specialized Arabic periodicals since 1920; 3. "Reviews" provides full text book reviews from more than 250 newspapers and magazines in the Arab world from 1998; 4. "Theses" provides a subject index to theses submitted to 21 Lebanese institutions of higher learning; and, 5. "Index Arabicus" documents the contents of 42 Arabic periodicals published between 1870 and 1969. The database has both Arabic and English interfaces.
General News
Islam in Contemporary Sub-Saharan Africa
The bibliography contains several thousand references to secondary literature in European languages about Islam in contemporary Sub-Saharan Africa, published between 1960 to 2005.
The bibliography of Islam in Contemporary Sub-Saharan Africa has been prepared in conjunction with the African Studies Centre (ASC) and the Centre d’Etude d’Afrique Noire project “Islam, the Disengagement of the State, and Globalization in Sub-Saharan Africa,” that was funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which resulted in a Conference held at the UNESCO in May 2005. ####The bibliography contains several thousand references to secondary literature in European languages about Islam in contemporary Sub-Saharan Africa, published between 1960 to 2005. Many of the entries also have abstracts produced by the ASC library. Select entries have abstracts from the authors, publishers, and journals themselves.

Topical Journals

Berkeley Journal of Middle Eastern & Islamic law
The Berkeley Journal of Middle Eastern & Islamic Law is a US-based law journal that covers relevant topics in Middle Eastern, Islamic, and comparative law.
Arab law quarterly
Published on behalf of: the Society of Arab Comparative and International Law.
Islamic law and society
Provides a forum for research in the field of classical and modern Islamic law, in Muslim and non-Muslim countries. Articles are published in French or English.
UCLA journal of Islamic and Near Eastern Law
The UCLA Journal of Islamic and Near Eastern Law contains the full text of documents that are dedicated to the scholarly review of legal issues that are of importance to Muslims and Near Easterners.
The journal of Islamic law & culture
The Journal of Islamic Law & Culture contains the full text of documents that are dedicated to the understanding of Islamic law and culture in America's legal, religious, and Muslim communities.
Majallat al-sharīʻah wa-al-dirāsāt al-Islāmīyah
Alternate title: Journal of shari’a and Islamic studies. Articles are mainly in Arabic with some in English.
Islamic Law & Law of the Muslim World eJournal
The only Social Science Research Network (SSRN) journal that focuses on this area of law, the Islamic Law and Law of the Muslim World Research Paper Series at New York Law School.

Legal Indexes for Journal Articles and Books (multiple jurisdictions)

Legal periodical indexes generally only allow you to search the title, citation, abstract, keywords (sometimes author-supplied), and subject terms given to a journal article, rather than the full text. A benefit to using a legal periodical index is that it will include all issues and volumes of a given journal, without any gaps in coverage, back to a certain date. (For example, Legaltrac's contents go back to 1980. Full text databases can have gaps in coverage, sometimes many years' worth, for an individual journal.

Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals (HeinOnline)
Access via Harvard Key.
The Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals (IFLP) provides citations to articles about foreign, comparative and international law. Materials in all languages are included. Greek, Cyrillic, and East Asian vernacular are Romanized and Arabic and Hebrew titles are translated into English or French.
Jurisdictions: Global
Index to Legal Periodicals and Books (EBSCO)
Access via HarvardKey.
The Index to Legal Periodicals & Books (ILP) provides citations to articles in over 800 legal periodicals, including law reviews, bar journals, yearbooks, institutes, and government publications. In 1994, ILP began indexing legal books and now includes approximately 2,000 per year. Check access in Westlaw.
Index to Legal Periodicals Retrospective, 1908-1981 (EBSCO)
Access via HarvardKey.
Index to over 750 legal periodicals from the United States, Australia, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland and New Zealand. Covers 1908-1981. See Jones & Chipman for earlier coverage.
Legal Journals Index (Westlaw)
Access via Westlaw password (limited to Harvard Law School community).
Legal Journals Index provides citations to articles in over 450 legal journals published in the United Kingdom and other European countries. Covers topics pertaining to the laws of the European Union and its member states. Citation includes an abstract and links to the full-text of the article and referenced cases when available.
Jurisdictions: United Kingdom, Europe
Legaltrac
Access is available on the Harvard Law School campus. Off-campus access is available to current HLS affiliates and controlled by Harvard Key.
LegalTrac provides citations to articles in over 1,000 legal periodicals published since 1980. LegalTrac covers law reviews, bar association journals, legal newspapers, and international legal journals. It also covers law-related articles from about 1,000 additional business and general interest titles. Geographical coverage includes the U.S., Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
Doctrinal Plus
Access is available on the Harvard Law School campus. Off-campus access is available to current HLS affiliates and controlled by Harvard Key.
Doctrinal Plus is an index to over 150 French law journals. The database of official texts includes law from French and EU sources as well as jurisprudence from French and EU courts. The interface and help screens are in French throughout.
Jurisdictions: France, EU

Domestic Legal Systems

A note about the sources highlighted

This tab includes the sources on opinions, judgments and finding aids such as digests or indexes from the various states with Islamic law component (historical and/or contemporary). Most of the compilations include domestic relations cases in the vernacular and English translations, if available.

Regional Sources

Eastlaws
Access via Harvard Key Eastlaws (Shabakat qawānīn al-sharq) provides statutes, codes, judgments, treaties along with rulings from Islamic courts (in Arabic). Coverage varies by country. Jurisdictions: Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (Federal, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Sharjah), Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Iraq, Yemen, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Libya, Sudan, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco
The database contains:
-Judicial judgments
-Islamic legislation
-Legal provisions (doctrine of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal)
-Personal Status laws
-Indian fatwas of Imam Abu Hanifa
-Imam Shafi’s jurisprudence
-Imam Abu Hanifa's Jurisprudence
-Islamic fatwas: All fatwas issued from the Egyptian Fatwa council

Bangladesh

Chancery Law Chronicles
Access restricted to Law School users. Requires username and password, available from Langdell Reference Desk. Bangladesh legal database.

Egypt

Tashreeat
For HLS affiliates only. Please contact HLS Research Services for access instructions.
Jurisdiction: Egypt

al-Fatāwá al-Islāmīyah min Dār al-Iftāʼ al-Miṣrīyah
Fatwas issued by Dār al-Iftāʼ al-Miṣrīyah. 39 volume set; coverage period 1895-2012
Official Gazette - al-Jarīdah al-rasmīyah
al-Maḥkamah al-Dustūrīyah al-ʻUlyā - Egyptian Constitutional Court cases
Egyptian Constitutional Court cases are also available on the Court's website, http://hccourt.gov.eg/Pages/Rules/Rules_Search.aspx.
Mawsūʻat al-fatāwá al-muʼaṣṣalah min Dār al-Iftāʼ al-Miṣrīyah
Fatwas issued by Dār al-Iftāʼ al-Miṣrīyah. Coverage 2013 supplements the above set.

Indonesia

Himpunan putusan kasasi peradilan agama
Supreme Court’s decisions in cases involving Islamic family law for Indonesian Muslims. Published in 2001.
Himpunan putusan kasasi peradilan agama
Supreme Court’s decisions in cases involving Islamic family law for Indonesian Muslims. Published in 2000.

Iran

Jordan

al-Qarārāt al-istiʾnāfīyah fī al-aḥwāl al-shakhṣīyah

Lebanon

Malaysia

Current Law Journal
Access restricted to Law School users; username and password available from the Reference Desk. This English language database aims to contain the full-texts of all Malaysian cases and federal acts. New bills, acts, subsidiary acts and amending acts are listed as they become available. The database provides links to a number of freely accessible legal directories. These include the Malaysian legal professional email directory and the Malaysian Bar Council Directory.
Shariah law reports
Quarterly case reporter of Malaysian shariah judgments.

Morocco

Mudawwanat al-usrah wa-al-ʻamal al-qaḍāʾī al-Maghribī
Covers cases on domestic relations.

Nigeria

Toma Legal Retrieve
IP access. Access may be limited to users with a valid Harvard ID. Full text of all legislation in force (1990- ); full text of selected judgments of Court of Appeal of Nigeria, federal high courts of Nigeria, and states’ high courts of Nigeria; legal precedents and business letters; Supreme Court of Nigeria judgments (1956- ); investment, petroleum, company, and taxation laws of Nigeria; court rules; judgments of West African Court of Appeal (WACA) and appeals from WACA to Privy Council.

Pakistan

Pakistanlawsite
For HLS affiliates only. Please contact HLS Research Services for access instructions.
Pakistan Law Site includes statutes, rules and cases relating to Pakistan covering federal and provincial materials. This database includes: All Pakistan Legal Decisions (PLD), Supreme Court Monthly Review (SCMR), Civil Law Cases (CLC), Pakistan Criminal Law Journal (PCrLJ), Pakistan Tax Decisions (PTD), Pakistan Labour Cases (PLC), Corporate Law Decisions (CLD), Yearly Law Reporter (YLR), Monthly Law Digest (MLD), Gilgit-Baltistan Law Reports (GBLR)
Jurisdiction:: Pakistan
For HLS affiliates only. Please contact HLS Research Services for access instructions.
Pakistan Law Site includes statutes, rules and cases relating to Pakistan covering federal and provincial materials. This database includes: All Pakistan Legal Decisions (PLD), Supreme Court Monthly Review (SCMR), Civil Law Cases (CLC), Pakistan Criminal Law Journal (PCrLJ), Pakistan Tax Decisions (PTD), Pakistan Labour Cases (PLC), Corporate Law Decisions (CLD), Yearly Law Reporter (YLR), Monthly Law Digest (MLD), Gilgit-Baltistan Law Reports (GBLR)
Jurisdiction: Pakistan

Sri Lanka

The Board of Quazis’ law reports: with a digest
Cases from the Board of Quazis from 2001-2010 on domestic relations.

Saudi Arabia

al-Mawsūʻah al-ḥadīthah fī al-anẓimah al-Saʻūdīyah

Turkey

HukukTurk
This law portal offers regularly updated decisions from the Supreme Court (Yargıtay), State Council (Danıştay), Constitutional Court (Anayasa Mahkemesi) and European Court of Human Rights (Avrupa İnsan Hakları Mahkemesi); also includes all legislation, amended or new, simultaneously with the official gazette (T.C. resmî gazete) on a daily basis; an index to legal literature covering 1930-2000, with current updates; a legal dictionary; samples of petitions and contracts; and draft laws.
Istanbul Kadi Sicilleri
Available in print and searchable online, http://www.kadisicilleri.org/index.php, this 40-volume set includes Istanbul court records from the Ottoman period.

Other Resources

Muslim Law Systems

Muslim Law Systems and Mixed Systems with a Muslim Law Tradition provided by University of Ottawa

JuriGlobe - World Legal Systems

Fatawa - Religious Rulings

Fatawa - Muslim World League (Makkah)
The Muslim World League was founded in accordance with a resolution adopted during the meeting of the General Islamic Conference, which was held in Holy Makkah on the 14th of Dhul Hijjah 1381 Hijra corresponding to the 18th May 1962.
Affiliations:
- The United Nations Organization: Observer in consultative status with the ECOSOC.
- Organization of the Islamic Conference: Observe status in attendance at all meetings and conferences.
- ISESCO: Member
- UNICEF: Member

Islamic Law Collections and Islamic Legal Studies Programs

Islamic Legal Studies Program (Harvard Law School)
Harvard Law School's Islamic Legal Studies Program (ILSP), established in 1991, is a research program that seeks to advance knowledge and understanding of Islamic law. As stated in its statement of objectives (incorporated into the terms of its major grants), the Program is dedicated to achieving excellence in the study of Islamic law through objective and comparative methods. It aims to foster an atmosphere of open inquiry that embraces many perspectives: Muslim and non-Muslim, scholar and practitioner, contemporary and classical, Sunni and Shi'i, law and religion. It seeks to promote appreciation of Islamic law as one of the world's major legal systems.
Bibliographic Resources for Middle East & Islamic Studies (Columbia University)
This is a selective guide to major reference resources on Middle Eastern history, religion, literature, politics, and culture, available at Columbia University Libraries. The guide includes encyclopedias, biographical and subject-specific dictionaries, foreign-language dictionaries, research guides and subject bibliographies, and relevant databases for periodical articles and other writings.

Islamic Heritage Project
IHP is a multi-disciplinary collection of high-quality digital reproductions of more than 270 Islamic manuscripts, more than 300 published texts, and 58 maps from Harvard's renowned library and museum collections. Subjects represented include religious texts and commentaries; Sufism; history, geography, law, and the sciences (astronomy, astrology, mathematics, medicine); poetry and literature; rhetoric, logic, and philosophy; calligraphy, dictionaries and grammar, as well as biographies and autobiographical works. Coverage 10th-20th centuries CE.
IHP is a multi-disciplinary collection of high-quality digital reproductions of more than 270 Islamic manuscripts, more than 300 published texts, and 58 maps from Harvard's renowned library and museum collections. Subjects represented include religious texts and commentaries; Sufism; history, geography, law, and the sciences (astronomy, astrology, mathematics, medicine); poetry and literature; rhetoric, logic, and philosophy; calligraphy, dictionaries and grammar, as well as biographies and autobiographical works.

Islamic Manuscripts Cataloging Project (Princeton University)
Online Cataloging for the New Series of Islamic Manuscripts at Princeton

Cataloging is now available online for the entire collection of the nearly 2200 manuscripts comprising the New Series of Islamic Manuscripts in the Manuscripts Division, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library. The New Series constitutes the premier collection of predominantly Shi`ite manuscripts in the Western Hemisphere and among the finest in the world. The online records have been created as part of the Islamic Manuscripts Cataloging and Digitization Project, to improve access to these rich collections and share them worldwide through digital technology. Researchers can now locate Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Turkish manuscripts by searching the Library’s online catalog: http://catalog.princeton.edu.