SHARIAsource Portal
A subject-specific starting point for primary documents, with filters for geography, period and document type.
Resources for Islamic legal research
Libraries, legal records, specialist scholarship and general reference tools.
Islamic legal studies
Harvard Program in Islamic Law
The academic program behind the original SHARIAsource project. Its publications and portal are separate from this independent site.
Islamic Law Blog
Current scholarly commentary and the successor location of many historical posts cited in this archive.
McGill Library: Sharia Source (2018)
A contemporary library account documenting the original project's academic purpose.
Matthew S. Erie: Female Clerics among Chinese Muslims
The editor's introduction to a five-part symposium, published 2 September 2016.
Akhter v. Khan: 2018 roundtable
An introduction linking six contributions on the 2018 Family Court decision.
Vishal Vora: The Need for an Efficient Mechanism to Marry
A historical argument for reform of marriage formalities; read alongside the later appeal.
Rebecca Probert: Engaging with the Marriage Act of 1949
A contribution emphasizing the statutory framework behind the case.
Recent Scholarship: Akhter v. Khan (2018)
A short bibliographic post pointing readers to Alistair Jones's LSE commentary.
Asma Sayeed: Women and the Transmission of Religious Knowledge in Islam
Cambridge University Press book record; the linked table of contents identifies the scope of the study.
Judith E. Tucker: In the House of the Law
Publisher's description and contents for Gender and Islamic Law in Ottoman Syria and Palestine. Paperback edition, 2000.
Leslie Peirce: Morality Tales
Publisher's description and contents for Law and Gender in the Ottoman Court of Aintab, 2003.
Sarah Ghabrial: Research profile and Litigating Subjects
Author's institutional account of research on Algerian women and colonial law, 1870–1930. The book is listed as forthcoming in March 2027.
Sonneveld and Lindbekk, eds.: Women Judges in the Muslim World
Brill's 2017 open-access edited collection, hosted on JSTOR. Contents and chapter abstracts provide a comparative research starting point.
Iza R. Hussin: The Politics of Islamic Law
Publisher's description and contents for the 2016 comparison of colonial India, Malaya and Egypt.
Guy Burak: The Second Formation of Islamic Law
Cambridge book record for the study of an Ottoman official school of law, published in 2015.
Burak: The post-Mongol context of the Ottoman adoption of a school of law
The author's 2013 article sets out the comparative framework for studying an official school of law.
Julia Stephens: Governing Islam
Publisher's account and contents of Law, Empire, and Secularism in Modern South Asia, published in 2018.
Ahmed El Shamsy: Rediscovering the Islamic Classics
Princeton Scholarship Online record and chapter information for the 2020 book on editors and print culture.
Brinkley Messick: The Calligraphic State
University of California's online book, including the author's introduction on writing, institutions and authority in highland Yemen.
Wael B. Hallaq: The Origins and Evolution of Islamic Law
Cambridge book description and contents. The original book appeared in 2005; the online record has a separate digital date.
Hallaq: Introduction to The Origins and Evolution of Islamic Law
Author's introductory framing, published online by Cambridge University Press in 2012.
Ergene: Local Court, Provincial Society, and Justice in the Ottoman Empire
Berkeley Law catalogue record for the 2003 study of Çankırı and Kastamonu, 1652–1744.
Brill: Local Court, Provincial Society, and Justice in the Ottoman Empire
Publisher's record for Boğaç A. Ergene's book. Access restrictions may vary.
Courts & public records
HM Attorney General v Akhter and Khan — official judgment record
Court of Appeal, 14 February 2020, neutral citation [2020] EWCA Civ 122.
Akhter appeal: judgment text, [2020] EWCA Civ 122
Read paragraphs 123–128 for the conclusion and order setting aside the earlier decision.
Marriage Act 1949
Official legislation. Check the relevant version and commencement information when studying an older dispute.
Home Office: Independent review of sharia law in England and Wales
Publication page for the independent review released on 1 February 2018.
The National Archives: Find Case Law
Search and browse judgments by court and tribunal.
Find Case Law: Courts and coverage
Explains collection limits, including the possibility that an appeal is absent.
EUR-Lex
European Union legislation and case law. Search by case number as well as party names.
Holt v. Hobbs, 574 U.S. 352 (2015)
Supreme Court opinion, 20 January 2015, reproduced by Cornell's Legal Information Institute. Concerns the RLUIPA standard and a prison grooming policy.
EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, 575 U.S. 768 (2015)
Supreme Court opinion, 1 June 2015. Read the majority and separate opinions on motive and knowledge.
CJEU: Achbita and Bougnaoui, press release 30/17
The Court's summary of the judgments of 14 March 2017, with links to the decisions. A press release is distinct from the judgments.
CJEU: WABE and Müller, press release 128/21
Official summary of the joined workplace-neutrality cases decided on 15 July 2021.
Eweida and Others v. the United Kingdom
European Court of Human Rights judgment, 15 January 2013. Four applications with distinct factual settings and outcomes.
Shergill v. Khaira, [2014] UKSC 33
Official Supreme Court judgment, 11 June 2014, on civil rights, trusts and religious questions.
Beximco v. Shamil Bank, [2004] EWCA Civ 19
Court of Appeal judgment of 28 January 2004, addressing the financing agreements' governing-law clause.
Dallah v. Ministry of Religious Affairs, Pakistan, [2010] UKSC 46
Supreme Court judgment, 3 November 2010, concerning arbitration jurisdiction and enforcement.
Aleem v. Aleem, 404 Md. 404 (2008)
Maryland court's original opinion, filed 6 May 2008. Its reasoning must be read within the state-law and procedural setting.
Law Commission: Weddings project and 2022 report
The project page links the final report of 19 July 2022, recommendations, consultation material and subsequent responses.
Family Law Act 1986, Part II
Official text concerning recognition of overseas divorces, annulments and legal separations. Version and territorial scope matter.
42 U.S.C. § 2000cc-1: Institutionalized persons
The statutory provision discussed in Holt, reproduced by Cornell Legal Information Institute.
42 U.S.C. § 2000e: Definitions
Subsection (j) supplies Title VII’s definition of religion, including observance and practice.
Achbita, C-157/15: judgment
Official text of the judgment of 14 March 2017.
Bougnaoui, C-188/15: judgment
Official text of the judgment of 14 March 2017.
WABE and Müller, C-804/18 and C-341/19: judgment
Official judgment of the Grand Chamber, 15 July 2021.
European Convention on Human Rights
Official Convention text; Article 9 concerns freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
UNCITRAL: New York Convention
Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, with official text and status information.
Libraries & collections
University of Michigan: Islamic Manuscripts
A collection spanning jurisprudence, language, literature, science and other subjects.
Library of Congress: Arabic, Persian and Ottoman Calligraphy
Digitized objects, catalogue descriptions and item-level rights information.
Library of Congress: ALA-LC Romanization Tables
Reference tables for consistent catalogue searches and citations across writing systems.
The Met: Binding for the Mantiq al-Tayr
The public-domain bookbinding photograph used in this journal. Iran, Isfahan, circa 1600; accession 63.210.67.
Arabic Papyrology Database: project and coverage
Project documentation for editions, metadata, document types and searches across pre-modern Arabic documentary materials.
Arabic Papyrology Database: document search
Search by edition, inventory number, kind, material, place and date. Metadata-only entries and transcribed texts have different coverage.
Cambridge: Discarded history — Cairo Genizah treasures
A collection-based account that discusses letters, legal documents and evidence of social and commercial relationships.
Penn OPenn: Cairo Genizah manuscripts
Item descriptions include legal documents, marriage contracts and a divorce formulary. These are Jewish documentary materials in a wider regional setting.
Birmingham: FIHRIST manuscript union catalogue
Institutional description of the searchable catalogue for manuscript collections in Arabic script.
FIHRIST
Search manuscript descriptions across participating collections; consult the holding library's record for access.
Qatar Digital Library: Register of legal documents, IOR/R/15/2/2017
British Library record for a volume principally containing Arabic land-sale deeds dated 1913–1921, with additional materials and several foliation sequences.
Princeton: Manuscripts of the Islamic World
Digitized selections from collections that include the manuscripts assembled by Robert Garrett.
Princeton: Making Islamic manuscripts more accessible (2005)
A dated institutional account of cataloguing, digitization and the collection's range of subjects.
Birmingham: The Mingana Collection
An institutional overview of a multilingual Middle Eastern manuscript collection.
Birmingham: Catalogues and digitized Mingana manuscripts
Catalogue history and routes to selected digitized manuscripts.
Michigan: Digitized collections for Islamic manuscript studies
An annotated directory including the Yemeni Manuscript Digitization Initiative and participating repositories.
OPenn: Islamic MSS Third Series 584e — Letters and documents
Institutional item-level catalogue and images for a group of documentary fragments dated 1106–1497.
Sayeed: Table of contents
Publisher’s table of contents for the 2013 book, identifying the chapter sequence.
General research tools
WorldCat
Locate editions and library holdings. A catalogue record does not guarantee full-text access.
Crossref: Metadata and DOI lookup
Check a work's title, author, journal and DOI against its publisher record.
Crossref: Retrieving metadata
Documentation for researchers who need structured publication metadata.
Directory of Open Access Journals
Discover open-access journals and articles across disciplines.
Internet Archive: Wayback Machine
Look for earlier versions of a cited web address. Capture coverage and playback availability vary.
Finance & institutions
World Bank: Asset recycling through Islamic finance
An institutional introduction to asset-based structures, leases and infrastructure financing.
IMF: The Promise of Islamic Finance (2015)
A dated policy discussion of inclusion, assets and risk sharing, rather than an endorsement of a financial product.
IFSB: Guiding principles on Shariah governance, historical standards
Standards archive. IFSB-10 was issued in December 2009; check later standards and local adoption when researching current regulation.
IFSB: Implementation guideline report (2020)
Includes a description of IFSB-10 and its focus on competence, independence, confidentiality, consistency and review.
Hussain, Shahmoradi and Turk: An Overview of Islamic Finance
IMF Working Paper WP/15/120, May 2015. A historical analytical paper rather than an assessment of an individual product.