The project began under the name Al-Mawsu'at Al-Shamela (The Comprehensive Encyclopedia) and was originally created by a member of an online forum dedicated to the religious community.
For more information, you can explore the official website or download the application here.
The story of Al-Maktaba Al-Shamela begins in April 2005 in the digital spaces of online forums dedicated to the Ahl al-Hadith community. An Egyptian programmer, known only by the pseudonym "Nāfiʿ," created a software program for personal use. Frustrated by the difficulty of searching across his growing collection of digital Islamic books, he developed a tool that could simultaneously search multiple files. Originally named Al-Mawsu'at Al-Shamela ("The Comprehensive Encyclopedia"), the first version contained 969 free books and was initially shared with only a few scholars.
| Feature | Al-Maktaba al-Shamela | Online Alternatives (e.g., Sunnah.com, Al-Tafsir.com) | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | | No | Yes | | Speed | Extremely fast (local files) | Depends on connection | | Book Variety | Thousands of obscure and rare texts | Usually limited to popular/famous texts | | Accuracy | High (often mentions print edition) | Variable |