Islamweb

Islamweb is a Qatari Islamic portal of the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs, launched in 1998. The Peninsula describes it as the first Arab portal to introduce Islam, its heritage, culture and civilisation at a global level; that is the paper's description, relayed from the body that runs it. ¹

The site began in 1998 confined to fatwas, as an attempt to open a religious window on the internet for Muslims around the world; the ministry, with the support of the General Directorate of Endowments, later developed its form and content. ¹ Its earliest capture in the Internet Archive is dated 9 October 1999: an entry page titled "Islam Web" offering English or Arabic. ²

Among its stated aims are spreading the correct Islamic creed and the Shari'a sciences based on evidence from the Qur'an and the Sunna, clarifying the image of Islam and Muslims, caring for Muslim causes, inviting non-Muslims, presenting material professionally, and uniting Muslims while keeping dialogue with others. ³

It grew into a comprehensive portal with sections on the Qur'an; medical, social, educational, youth and psychological consultations; audio; and articles, in six languages: Arabic, English, French, Spanish, German and Indonesian. ¹ In April 2023 The Peninsula reported about 200,000 consultations, nearly 300,000 fatwas, more than 70,000 articles and more than half a million audio files, from Qur'an recordings, lectures and lessons to religious chants and Friday sermons, with more than eight million pages and over two billion views. ¹ It has a digital library of the Shari'a sciences, whose app launched in 2022 with more than 700,000 pages, and an inheritance calculator. ^{1 3} The museum holds a number of fatwas from the site's fatwa centre in its Fatwa Explorer. ⁴

The site is active at islamweb.net and has articles in the Arabic, Finnish, Hindi and Russian Wikipedias. ⁵ The figures above are those of the body that runs it, as the paper relayed them, not an independent count.

• The Peninsula, 12 April 2023. ¹
• Arabic Wikipedia, «إسلام ويب», revision 76358964. ³
• Wikidata Q12182206. ⁵
• Internet Archive captures, October 1999. ²
• Islamweb fatwa centre. ⁴