The Maktabah Shamelah Guide
A complete guide to installing and using al-Maktabah al-Shāmilah — the digital library of over 29,000 Arabic Islamic books — on Windows, Mac, iPhone, and iPad.
The Maktabah Shāmilah (المكتبة الشاملة) is the largest free digital library of Arabic Islamic literature ever assembled. The “Golden” edition contains over 29,000 books across the Islamic sciences — tafsīr, hadith, fiqh, language, history, biography, and more — fully searchable and free to use.
This guide walks you through downloading, installing, and using it on every common platform.
Quick summary
- What it is: desktop software that turns your computer into a research library of 29,000+ Arabic Islamic texts.
- Cost: completely free.
- Best on: Windows. Limited on Mac. Mobile-only via a separate official app.
- Time to set up: 30–60 minutes including the download (the library is roughly 20GB compressed).
What Shamelah includes
Our library comprises over 5,300 books in the standard edition (and 29,000+ in the Golden edition) on various Islamic sciences, all in Arabic and organised into distinct categories. Many of the books and authors have identity cards for easy reference.
The advanced search functionality allows you to:
- Search across single or multiple books
- Choose to include or ignore the various forms of the letter Hamza
- Search for book titles, within the books, in the comments section, by author, or with multiple words using “and” or “or” criteria
- Edit the books, bookmark your favourite locations, and open multiple books at once
- Choose to remove or keep Tashkīl (diacritic marks) from texts (when available)
- Associate books of Sharḥ (commentaries) with their respective Matn (texts) when available
The application provides customisation options including the ability to change the background image, font, and colour of various levels of text and background such as main text, comments, and headings.
Before you install: enabling Arabic on Windows
Shamelah is an Arabic application and requires your system locale to be set to Arabic to display correctly. This is a one-time setting; you don’t need to read in Arabic afterwards, just allow the system to render it.
Windows 10 Pro
- Settings → Time & Language → Language → scroll down to Preferred Languages → Add a language: select Arabic (Saudi Arabia) + Add all optional features
- Control Panel → Clock and Region → Region → Administrative tab → Change System Locale → select Arabic (Saudi Arabia) → OK → Restart PC
Windows 10 (Home / standard)
- Settings → Time & Language → Region & Language: change the region to Saudi Arabia and add Arabic (Saudi Arabia)
- Control Panel → Clock, Language and Region → Region → Administrative → Change System Locale → select Arabic (Saudi Arabia) → OK → Restart PC
After restarting, your system is ready to install Shamelah.
The Arabic locale only affects how Shamelah renders. Your other applications and documents will continue to work in English exactly as before.
Choose your edition
Shamelah comes in two main editions. Pick one:
| Edition | Books | Size | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard (v3.64) | 17,400+ | smaller | Most users — comprehensive enough for almost any research |
| Golden | 29,000+ | ~20 GB | Serious researchers needing the most exhaustive coverage |
Standard edition (17,400 books)
Download via Internet Archive (RAR / Torrent)
Or get the latest official version from shamela.ws/page/download.
Golden edition (29,000+ books)
The Golden Shamela Library is an unofficial Shamela program with over 29,000 books (~20GB compressed).
| Format | Link |
|---|---|
| Single RAR file (19.7GB) | Download from MediaFire |
| Split files via Telegram | Files 1–14 |
For ongoing updates, join the Golden Shamela Telegram group.
Installation — the important step
When you download all the files, decompress the FIRST file only using WinRAR. The setup will then automatically decompress all the remaining files and become ready to use.
In Arabic:
هام: بعد تنزيل جميع الملفات، قم بفك الملف الأول فقط باستخدام برنامج مناسب مثل ونرار، ثم تصبح المكتبة جاهزة للتثبيت.
This is the most common mistake. Don’t decompress every file individually — only the first.
Mac users
Unfortunately, Shamelah is not officially supported on macOS. Your options:
- Run Windows on your Mac via Boot Camp (Intel Macs) or a virtual machine like Parallels or UTM
- Other approaches at kb.iu.edu/d/ahjj
If you want a native macOS Arabic-library experience, try one of these alternatives:
- موسوعة أسفار (Asfar Encyclopaedia) on the App Store
- مكتبة القرطاس (Al-Qirtas Library) — free download
iPhone and iPad
Use the official Shamelah app:
It’s a much smaller download than the desktop edition and works without any system locale changes.
Android
The latest official Android app:
Updates and support
For official program updates, check shamela.ws/page/download periodically.
For the Golden edition, the Telegram group is the most active source of news, fixes, and new editions as they’re released.
Common issues
The text shows as boxes or question marks You haven’t enabled Arabic system locale. Go back to the “Before you install” section above.
Setup fails partway through Almost always caused by decompressing more than just the first file. Delete everything, re-download, and only extract file #1.
It’s running slowly The Golden edition is large; allow plenty of disk space and don’t run it from a slow USB drive. Local SSD storage is best.
My antivirus is flagging the download Some antivirus products flag the Golden installer due to its non-standard packaging, even though it’s clean. Use the official Shamela download if you’d prefer the smaller, signed version.
If you find this guide useful, please share it with anyone who’d benefit. Shamelah opens the door to a vast inheritance of Islamic scholarship — make it part of your daily research workflow.
