Full-Text Online Arabic Sources: A Preliminary List

A truly epic amount of Arabic books, both classical and modern, have been scanned already. But what is the status of digitized texts, that is, where one does not look at an image of a page, but where the text of that page has been faithfully typed out? I am not aware of a list of online resources available, let alone a comprehensive analysis of them. If you do know of such or if you are able to contribute other sources or if you can give detailed information on one of these sources, please do contact me!

I here present my first findings of my inquiry. The restrictions I applied are:

  • Arabic texts
  • Exceptions only for those texts clearly pertaining to the Islamic civilization or modern Muslim world.
  • Online
  • Large quantity
  • True text (not images)
  • Free access

So far I found 27 websites that agree to these restrictions. I suspect that many of them contain the same sources. This in itself is not bad, it will help with assuring the continued existence of these digital resources. I only have cursory first-hand knowledge of a couple of them. I would really like it if people with experience with these websites could share their insights!

Here is the list. I hope to continue my investigation in this important topic.

  1. http://islamport.com
    1. Works with Shamela.
  2. http://lib.eshia.ir
    1. Works nicely, except for print function. Some overlap with noorlib.
  3. http://library.tebyan.net
  4. http://www.noorlib.ir
    • Excellent resource. Account required (free).
  5. http://rafed.net/booklib/
    1. Search function is flaky but the interface for books is nice.
  6. http://shamela.ws/
  7. http://iucontent.iu.edu.sa/Shamela/
    • Copy of shamela.ws?
  8. http://sh.rewayat2.com
    • Copy of shamela.ws?
  9. http://www.aldhiaa.com/arabic/book.php?sort=all
  10. http://library.al-kawkab.com
  11. http://kl28.com
    1. Partly Shamela. Some magazines. Search function flaky.
  12. http://emamieh.com/ar/BookAlphabet.html
  13. http://shiaonlinelibrary.com
  14. http://gadir.free.fr
    • Different languages, including English and French!
  15. http://www.yasoob.org/ar/
  16. http://www.almeshkat.net/
  17. http://www.altafsir.com/
    • Restricted to tafāsir.
  18. http://islamic-books.org
    • Very slow.
  19. http://library.islamweb.net/newlibrary/index.php
  20. http://www.al-islam.com/
  21. http://www.al-eman.com/index.htm
  22. http://rashf.com
    1. Claims to be a crowd-sourced project currently containing about 12.000 titles.
  23. http://www.hindawi.org
    1. I find this to be a rather exciting website: it features Arabic books on European culture and translations of books in European languages.
  24. http://www.dahsha.com/
  25. http://4kitab.com
  26. http://mybook4u.com
  27. http://www.nashiri.net/ebooks.html

5 comments

  1. Mohammad

    noorlib.ir, Register required.

  2. You might wish to add alwaraq.net, which among other things has a searchable text of Yaqut’s Mu`jam al-Buldan. The server seems to be acting up at present, but it’s very useful when working.

  3. Josephine

    waqfeya.com is also helpful. Thanks a lot for your list!

  4. Pingback: Book Repositories for Islamic Studies (not a preliminary list) | The Digital Orientalist

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