Showcase · Legal history

Islamic Law Through the Ages

An interactive atlas of the states, jurists and legal acts that shaped Islamic law, from the community at Medina to modern constitutions. Choose an era, move through the years, and open any record.

Eras, from 622 to the present
6
Jurists, thinkers and rulers
705
States and polities
430
Legal acts, from treatises to codes
266

The atlas

Fourteen centuries on one globe

  1. Pick an era.
  2. Drag the year slider, or press Play, to watch the borders change.
  3. Open any state, person or legal act from the lists beside the map. Each record links to its source.

States are colored by branch of Islam. Hatched states were not Muslim-ruled and are shown for context.

850CE · AH c. 235

Loading the atlas, 750–1258

States in 850 CE. Select one to read its record.

    SunniShi'iIbadi and KharijiteOther or mixedNon-Muslim-ruled, shown for contextApproximate extentPersonCapital

    Borders: Cliopatria, from the Seshat Global History Databank (opens in a new tab), licensed CC BY 4.0. Base map: Natural Earth, public domain. Record summaries draw on Wikipedia articles, linked from each record, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

    How it is built

    Structured history, with sources attached

    Borders that change with the year
    State borders come from a time-sliced historical dataset, so the map redraws as you move through the centuries. Where a state has no measured border, the atlas shows its capital instead.
    Every record keeps its sources
    People, states and legal acts are compiled from cited sources, and each record links back to the reference it was built from, so a reader can check it.
    One record across many eras
    A jurist, state or school that spans more than one era is stored once and shared, so it reads the same wherever it appears.

    Coverage

    Six eras

    Each band is drawn to scale. Select one to open it in the atlas.

    • 622–750Prophet, Rashidun and Umayyads75 people · 20 states · 25 acts
    • 750–1258Abbasid era to the fall of Baghdad125 people · 106 states · 24 acts
    • 1258–1500Mongol successors, Mamluks and Timurids134 people · 114 states · 35 acts
    • 1500–1800Ottomans, Safavids and Mughals139 people · 143 states · 47 acts
    • 1800–1924Reform, colonial rule and codification153 people · 140 states · 57 acts
    • 1924–presentModern states and constitutions129 people · 100 states · 84 acts

    Researchers and institutions

    Working on legal history?

    We would like to hear from scholars, libraries and research centers, especially about records that are missing, misdated or poorly sourced.

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