What's New
Track the latest additions, content expansions, and improvements to the Islamic Heritage Encyclopaedia.
Recent Updates
New Article: Amir Khusraw
A new article on the poet of the Delhi Sultanate and disciple of Nizam al-Din Awliya.
New Glossary Word: Mathnawi
The Glossary grew from 273 to 274 terms.
- Mathnawi
New Feature: Shuffle Key Terms & Concepts
The Key Terms & Concepts section on the home page now has a Shuffle button that draws new terms from the whole Glossary.
- Shuffle button on the home page's Key Terms & Concepts
Rewritten Article: Alauddin Khalji
An existing article was researched again and rewritten from scratch.
Four Articles Rewritten
Four articles were rebuilt from the approved sources from scratch.
New Feature: Previews and Sourcing Panel on Every Article
Every article now shows what it rests on and previews its references where they appear.
- Hover previews for Qur'an verses, hadith and glossary terms
- A "How this article is sourced" panel
- A Hijri / Common Era date toggle
Two Articles Rewritten
Two articles were rebuilt from the approved sources from scratch.
New Article: Akbar
A new article was added on the third Mughal emperor.
Three Articles Rewritten
Three articles were rebuilt from the approved sources from scratch.
New Article: Nasir al-Din al-Tusi
A new article was added.
New Era: Age of the Prophets
A new historical era was added, gathering the prophets who came before the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
- New era: Age of the Prophets
Three New Collections
Collections were expanded from 30 to 33.
- Iraq and the Abbasid Heartland
- Islam in Southeast Asia
- Islam in the West
Five New Learning Paths
Five new Learning Paths were added, taking the total from 23 to 28.
- Egypt, Syria and the Levant
- Islamic Arts and Letters
- Islam in Europe and North America
- Islam in Southeast Asia
- Society, Trade and Institutions
New Glossary Word: Convivencia
The Glossary grew from 242 to 243 terms.
- Convivencia
New Article: Ja'far al-Sadiq
A new article was added.
Seven New Glossary Words
Seven new Glossary terms were added.
- Taqiyya
- Nass
- Mutawatir
- Külliye
- Türbe
- Sebil
- Imaret
Rewritten Article: Mimar Sinan
An existing article was researched again and rewritten from scratch.
New Collection: Egypt and Syria
A new collection was added.
- New collection: Egypt and Syria
New Collection: The Ottoman Empire
A new collection was added.
- New collection: The Ottoman Empire
New Learning Path: Scholars and Religious Movements of Modern South Asia
A new Learning Path was added.
- New Learning Path: Scholars and Religious Movements of Modern South Asia
Seven New Glossary Words
Seven new Glossary terms were added.
- Barid
- Ghusl
- Maghazi
- Mu'akhah
- Nawab
- Qasida
- Zawiya
New Articles: Sayyida al-Hurra and Kösem Sultan
Fourteen New Glossary Words
Fourteen new Glossary terms were added.
- Alim
- Ansar
- Atabeg
- Hifz
- Hijab
- Kharijites
- Kunya
- Muhajirun
- Nisba
- Qari
- Rijal
- Tabaqat
- Takfir
- Zuhd
New Articles: Ibn Hisham and Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik
New Articles: Four Companions of the Prophet
New Article: Abu Sufyan ibn Harb
New Articles: Ja'far ibn Abi Talib, Waraqah ibn Nawfal and Umm Ayman
New Articles: The Prophet's Immediate Family
New Articles: Halima al-Sa'diyya and the Battle of Hunayn
New Articles: Yasser Arafat and Amin al-Husseini
New Article: Al-Zamakhshari
New Articles: Four Sufi Masters
Sixteen New Glossary Words
Sixteen new Glossary terms were added.
- 16 new Glossary terms added, chiefly the Sufi vocabulary used in the new Sufi articles
Ten New Glossary Words
Ten new Glossary terms were added.
- 10 new Glossary terms added, among them Mecca, Jerusalem, the Five Pillars, Wahy and Jannah
New Articles: Seventeen Scholars of South Asia
New Articles: Five Classical Scholars
New Articles: Andalusi Rulers, Tughluq Sultans, and the Ottoman Centuries
New Collection: Admirals and Navigators
A new collection was added.
- New collection: Admirals and Navigators
New Articles: Ottoman and Seljuk Sultans
New Articles: Companions, a Caliph, and Four Rulers
Eleven New Glossary Words
Eleven new Glossary terms were added.
- Sunni
- Shia
- Sharia
- Ridda Wars
- Crusades
- Reconquista
- Mihna
- Sirah
- Mu'tazila
- Ash'ari
- Maturidi
New Glossary Word: Suhuf
A new Glossary term was added.
- Suhuf
New Articles: Reformers, Rebels, and Institutions of Modern Muslim India
Five New Learning Paths
Five new Learning Paths were added.
- Foundations of Islamic Belief
- Al-Andalus
- The Ottoman Centuries
- Islam in Africa
- The Modern Muslim World
Fifteen New Collections
Collections were expanded from 11 to 26.
- New collections covering belief, worship, scripture, the sciences, dynasties, rulers, the arts, society, and five regions
Thirty-Four New Glossary Words
The Glossary grew from 136 to 170 terms.
- Hadith-criticism vocabulary, the acts of worship, Sufi terminology, and Ottoman and Mughal administrative titles
101 Earlier Articles
Articles added earlier in the project, before this feed began recording each one. Their exact dates are not recorded, so they are listed together here.
New Feature: Listen to Articles (Text-to-Speech)
A new audio narration feature was added to article pages.
- Listen to Article button on article pages
- Play, pause, stop, and seek controls
New Articles: Bayezid I and the Battle of Nicopolis
New Articles: Seven Overlooked Figures in Islamic History
New Article: Suhaib ibn Sinan al-Rumi
New Collection: The Prophets of Islam
A new collection was added, grouping all 25 prophets named in the Quran.
- New collection: The Prophets of Islam
Two New Collections
Two new collections were added.
- New collection: The Early Islamic Conquests
- New collection: Islam in South Asia
New Article: Abadi Bano Begum (Bi Amma)
New Article: Hasrat Mohani
New Article: Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib
New Articles: Five Commanders of the Umayyad Conquests
New Articles: Zamzam and Masjid al-Nabawi
New Articles: Six Mothers of the Believers
New Feature: Collections
A new Collections section was added, launching with 8 collections.
- New collection: Ashara Mubashara
- New collection: Ahl al-Bayt
- New collection: Mothers of the Believers
- New collection: Six Hadith Masters
- New collection: Four Imams of Fiqh
- New collection: Decisive Battles
- New collection: Women in Islamic History
- New collection: Great Mosques
New Articles: Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf and Sa'id ibn Zayd
New Articles: Ertuğrul Ghazi and A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
New Articles: Five Rulers of South and Central Asian Islam
New Feature: Dark Mode, Accent Colors, and Font Switcher
Three new personalisation features were added: dark/light mode, accent colour picker, and a font switcher.
- Dark mode toggle
- 5 accent colour presets
- 4 font options
New Feature: Bibliography Page
A new Bibliography page was added.
- New Bibliography page
New Learning Path: Women in Islam
A new Learning Path was added.
- New Learning Path: Women in Islam
New Eras and Article Categories
The encyclopaedia's historical eras were expanded to 14, including three newly added eras.
- New era: Medieval Islamic World
- New era: African Islamic Empires
- New era: South Asian Islam
Glossary Expanded to 85 Terms
63 new Glossary terms were added.
- 63 new Glossary terms added
New Article: Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr
New Articles: Five Muslim Statesmen and Scholars of Modern India
New Articles: Scholars, Saints, Cities, and Civilisational Themes
New Articles: Uhud, Khandaq and the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah
New Articles: Hadith Sciences and the Four Schools of Law
New Articles: Al-Bukhari, Harun al-Rashid, Baghdad and Cordoba
New Articles: Empires, Dynasties, and Geography
New Articles: Prophets, Women of Islam, and Core Theology
New Feature: Homepage Learning Paths and Discovery Sections
New homepage sections were added.
- Islamic Month Highlight section
- Featured Discoveries section
- Learning Paths preview section
- Glossary preview section
New Articles: Abbasid Scholarly Hub
New Articles: The Rashidun Era
Recently Updated Articles
The articles most recently added or revised, sorted by the date each was last updated.
Amir Khusraw: Poet of the Delhi Sultanate, 1253–1325
Amir Khusraw (1253–1325) was a Persian-language poet of Delhi who wrote at the courts of the Balbanid, Khalji and early Tughluq sultans, and a disciple of the Chishti shaykh Nizam al-Din Awliya.
Alauddin Khalji: Sultan of Delhi, 1296-1316
Alauddin Khalji (r. 1296-1316) was the second ruler of the Khalji dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate. His reign brought Gujarat, Rajasthan, Malwa and much of peninsular India under Delhi, turned back six Mongol invasions, and fixed land revenue by measurement, army pay in cash, and market prices.
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam: The People's President and Missile Man of India
Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam served as India's eleventh President (2002–2007) and was a principal architect of the country's missile programme and a coordinator of the 1998 nuclear tests. A DRDO and ISRO scientist, he became a symbol of Indian scientific aspiration.
The Quran (Al-Qur'an)
The Quran is the scripture of Islam, held by Muslims to be the speech of Allah revealed to Prophet Muhammad over some twenty-three years. It comprises 114 surahs and, in the Egyptian standard edition, 6,236 verses.
Abul A'la Maududi
A journalist, Qur'anic commentator and political thinker who founded the Jamaat-e-Islami at Lahore in 1941. His six-volume Urdu commentary Tafhim al-Qur'an and his writings on the Islamic state were among the most widely circulated Muslim political works of the twentieth century.
The Jamaat-e-Islami
An organisation founded by Abul A'la Maududi at Lahore in August 1941 to form a disciplined body of Muslims who would remake society according to Islamic norms. After the partition of India it divided into separate and independent organisations in Pakistan, India and later Bangladesh.
Anwar Shah Kashmiri
A Kashmiri scholar of hadith who rose to be chief teacher and shaykh al-hadith at Darul Uloom Deoband, and led it after 1915. His lectures became the Arabic commentaries Fayd al-Bari on Sahih al-Bukhari and al-Arf al-Shadhi on Jami al-Tirmidhi.
Mahmud Hasan Deobandi
The first student of Darul Uloom Deoband, afterwards its chief teacher and rector, known by the title Shaykh al-Hind. He organised the Silken Letters scheme of 1916 against British rule, was interned at Malta for three years, and opened Jamia Millia Islamia on his return.
Madinat al-Zahra
Madinat al-Zahra was the palatine city built from 936 CE by the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Rahman III west of Córdoba as the seat of the Caliphate of Córdoba. Sacked within a century, it lay buried until excavations began in 1911 and was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2018.
Great Mosque of Córdoba (Mezquita)
The Great Mosque of Córdoba (Mezquita) is one of the most magnificent examples of Islamic architecture. Built over two centuries by Umayyad rulers, it features horseshoe arches and represents the pinnacle of Moorish achievement in Spain.
Shaykh Ahmed Deedat: Preacher and Writer on Comparative Religion
Ahmad Husein Deedat (1918-2005) was a South African preacher and writer on comparative religion who founded the Islamic Propagation Centre International at Durban, held public inter-religious debates, and received the King Faisal Prize in Service to Islam in 1986.
Ubayda ibn al-Harith
Ubayda ibn al-Harith (c. 561-624 CE) was a Companion of Prophet Muhammad from the Banu al-Muttalib, among the earliest Muslims of Mecca, commander of the expedition to Rabigh, and the first of the Prophet's kinsmen to be killed in battle, dying of a wound taken in single combat at Badr.
Ikrima ibn Abi Jahl
Ikrima ibn Abi Jahl (d. 13 AH / 634 CE) was the son of Abu Jahl and among the most determined Meccan opponents of Prophet Muhammad, condemned to death at the conquest of Mecca. Pardoned at his wife's plea, he accepted Islam, commanded armies in the Ridda Wars, and was killed fighting in Syria.
Ibn Hisham
Ibn Hisham (d. 218 AH / 833 CE) was a historian and philologist of Basra and Fustat who produced the recension of Ibn Ishaq's biography of Prophet Muhammad. It is the oldest life of the Prophet to survive complete, and the channel through which Ibn Ishaq's lost original reached later writers.
Abu Hudhayfa ibn Utba
Abu Hudhayfa ibn Utba (d. 11 or 12 AH / 632 or 633 CE) was an early Companion of Prophet Muhammad, a son of the Meccan leader Utba ibn Rabi'a, an emigrant to Abyssinia and a veteran of Badr, who freed and adopted Salim and died commanding a wing of the Muslim army at Yamamah.
Al-Zamakhshari: The Language of the Qur'an
Al-Zamakhshari (1075-1144) was an Arabic scholar of Khwarazm whose commentary Al-Kashshaf read the Qur'an through its grammar and rhetoric. Completed at Mecca, where he earned the name Jar Allah, it became a standard text of Islamic learning despite his Mu'tazilite theology.
Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
Prophet Muhammad ﷺ (c. 570–632 CE) was the final prophet and messenger in Islam. Born in Mecca, he received the Qur'an from the age of forty, migrated to Medina in 622, and led the Muslim community there until his death in 11 AH.
Shabbir Ahmad Usmani
A scholar of hadith and Qur'anic commentary, chancellor of Darul Uloom Deoband. He completed Mahmud Hasan's Qur'an glosses, began the Arabic commentary Fath al-Mulhim on Sahih Muslim, and led the Deobandi scholars who supported the creation of Pakistan.