al-Mawsua al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaytiyya

Al-Mawsua al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaytiyya (The Kuwaiti Fiqh Encyclopedia) is a 45-volume specialized reference work on Islamic jurisprudence compiled by a collective of scholars and published under the auspices of the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs in Kuwait al-Mawsua al-Fiqhiyya al-…+1.

Background and History

Efforts toward producing an organized modern encyclopedia of Islamic jurisprudence began in Damascus during the 1950s and 1960s with a committee headed by Mustafa al-Sibai, and subsequently under Mustafa al-Zarqa, alongside another initiative undertaken in Egypt Nihayat al-Matlab fi Dira…+1. In 1386 AH (1966–1967 CE), the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs in Kuwait officially adopted the project as a communal obligation (fard kifaya) al-Mawsua al-Fiqhiyya al-…+1. The ministry allocated twenty thousand Kuwaiti dinars for its initial phase in the 1966–1967 budget and retained Mustafa al-Zarqa as an expert consultant Tarikh al-Tashri al-Islam….

The project’s initial phase spanned five years, during which a terminological lexicon based on Ibn Qudamah's al-Mughni was prepared, and fifty sample studies were drafted al-Mawsua al-Fiqhiyya al-…. A preliminary edition published three sample entries—beverages (al-ashriba), foods (al-at'ima), and debt transfer (al-hawala)—and later issued further trial entries to solicit feedback from specialists across the Islamic world al-Mawsua al-Fiqhiyya al-…+1. This phase concluded around late 1971 before pausing in 1972 al-Mawsua al-Fiqhiyya al-…+1. Preparations resumed in 1975, and following comprehensive planning and academic outreach across Islamic institutions, active drafting recommenced al-Mawsua al-Fiqhiyya al-….

Scope and Methodology

The encyclopedia offers a modern reformulation of Islamic jurisprudential heritage up to the thirteenth Islamic century AH Tarikh al-Tashri al-Islam…+1. Its material is arranged alphabetically according to recognized legal terms (al-mustalahat al-fiqhiyya) using the current phrasing rather than root forms, adopting a word-by-word ordering system to make it accessible to both specialists and non-specialists al-Mawsua al-Fiqhiyya al-…+1.

Each entry was developed through a multi-stage editorial procedure:

• Extracting and sorting legal terms from primary classical texts across different schools of jurisprudence al-Mawsua al-Fiqhiyya al-….
• Categorizing entries into main terms, cross-reference terms (mustalahat ihala), and indicator terms (mustalahat dilala) al-Mawsua al-Fiqhiyya al-….
• Drafting outlines and commissioning research either internally or from specialized scholars throughout the Islamic world al-Mawsua al-Fiqhiyya al-….
• Subjecting drafts to scholarly review by seasoned jurists, followed by final approval and technical encyclopedic editing before printing al-Mawsua al-Fiqhiyya al-….

The work documents the legal opinions and points of consensus or disagreement, drawing directly from standard reference texts across the recognized Islamic schools of law—chiefly the four Sunni schools (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, and Hanbali), and incorporating indexing and comparative perspectives from other legal traditions such as the Zahiri, Zaydi, Imami, and Ibadi schools Nihayat al-Matlab fi Dira…+1. Each volume in the original print edition concludes with an appendix containing biographical notices (tarajim) of the jurists cited within that volume al-Mawsua al-Fiqhiyya al-….

Publication

The first volume of the finalized alphabetical encyclopedia was issued in Sha'ban 1400 AH (July 1980 CE) Tarikh al-Tashri al-Islam…+1. Publication continued over subsequent decades, concluding with the completion of all forty-five volumes by 1427 AH al-Mawsua al-Fiqhiyya al-…. Printing was executed in several stages, including runs published by Dar al-Salasil in Kuwait, Matabi' Dar al-Safwa in Egypt, and direct printings by the Kuwaiti Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs al-Mawsua al-Fiqhiyya al-….