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The College of Law at the United Arab Emirates University, in cooperation with the Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Charity and Humanitarian Foundation, organized a seminar entitled, ‘A Light on Sheikh Zayed’s Encyclopedia of Jurisprudence and Fundamental Rules’. The seminar was held in the theater at the College of Information Technology on the male campus on the morning of Tuesday, February 24^th. It was aimed at raising awareness of, and disseminating information about, jurisprudence (feqh) and legal culture.

The seminar was opened by His Excellency Mr. Ahmed Shabib Al Dhaheri, Director General of the Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Charity and Humanitarian Foundation, in the presence of Dr. Mohammed Hassan Ali, Dean of the College of Law, and a group of faculty and students.

Mr. Ahmed Shabib started his lecture on the encyclopedia with a brief on the foundation and its charitable work. It originated with the late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, and emphasizes the humanitarian mission of the UAE’s leadership.

He explained that the encyclopedia is comprehensive and covers all the rules of Islamic jurisprudence and fundamental rules. It was the late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan’s idea to collect the works of the finest Muslim scholars. The result is this encyclopedia of jurisprudence and fundamental rules that covers one hundred thousand rules in a shortened form. The remaining 2,900 original rules have become a basic legal reference for researchers, specialists and students of law. No investigation into jurisprudence can proceed without reference to it.

Mr. Ahmed Shabib commended the role played by UAEU in promoting the dissemination of such knowledge and pointed out that professors from UAEU contributed to the collection, abridgement and revision of the encyclopedia.

Dr. Mohammed Hassan Ali, Dean of the College of Law, stressed that the importance of this seminar comes from the fact that at this time many Islamic libraries lack such a resource. However, this comprehensive, 41 volume encyclopedia can facilitate students and researchers as they seek to understand the sometimes fragmentary legal rules contained elsewhere. As such this encyclopedia has become a vital source of reference.