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Islamic legal tradition: Home

Purpose of this guide

This guide is intended for students and researchers studying Islamic law at the University of Oxford, although students and researchers from any field may find it useful.

Use this guide to find out about sources and commentary for Islamic law, including ebooks, ejournals, and databases.

Islamic legal tradition : quick start

Resources on the free web available to all

Print resources in the Bodleian Law Library

The LawBod's collection of printed material for this religious legal system has shelf marks starting Islamic. There is no further subject classification within this section: the books are arranged according to first author/editor's surname.

The majority of the works on Islamic legal tradition held in the Law Bod are in Western European languages. The current collection with the shelfmark Islamic  is on Level 3.

For further guidance please visit the Books page in this guide.

Below are examples of introductory overviews which may be useful starting points:

In 2000 HRH Prince Bandar Salman Al-Saud generously donated 360 books to the Bodleian Law Library. The books, in Arabic, mainly focus on international commercial law, including the international law governing the arbitration of disputes between countries, world trade, company law, bankruptcy, employment law, commercial law, banking and leasing; some deal with constitutional law, criminal law and civil law. Some books are comparative studies of aspects of law in two or more states. A small number treat the relationship of modern law with Islamic law (shariah). Some focus on Saudi Arabian law. This collection is shelved after the Islamic collection. The shelf marks begin Bandar. The volumes are arranged by subject matter following the Library of Congress classification scheme. The collection is on Level 3.

Pay attention to the results in SOLO - you may well find that there are useful titles in other Bodleian Reading Rooms or other Oxford research libraries!

The School of Oriental and African Studies in London is the leading English centre for the study of both Islamic law and countries with an Islamic legal system. You can search their catalogue online, then consider a visit (please read the details of how to apply for admission).

Related Bodleian Guides

Key libraries