Special Collection

Middle Eastern Collection

MLIC has an extensive collection of books written in Arabic and Persian languages which were collected by the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies of the International University of Japan. This is one of the very rare collections in Japan including the English language materials which MLIC maintains.

The collection was initiated by the wishes of Sohei Nakayama, the founder of IUJ, and consists of a wide range of materials related to Islamic culture and society. It contains basic reference books for religious studies such as various versions of commentary Qur’an, collections of the Hadith, as well as historical documents on early and medieval Islamic world, and many books of Jurisprudence, especially of the Hanafi School and Rich Fatwa collections. There are variety of books other than above mentioned categories, which are important and useful for the exact understanding of complex socio-cultural aspects of the Islamic tradition.