Al-Milal wa al-Nihal

Kitāb al–Milal wa al-Nihal (Arabic:كتاب الملل والنحل, The Book of Sects and Creeds), written by the Islamic scholar Muhammad al-Shahrastani (d. 1153 CE), is a non-polemical study of religious communities and philosophies that had existed up to his time, considered to be the first systematic study of religion. It was written around 1127-1128 and divides religions between sects, which have written doctrines, and creeds which do not.

A French translation of the book by Gimaret, Monnot and Jolivet was sponsored by UNESCO (Livre des religions et des sects. Leuven, Peeters: vol. I, 1986, Vol. II, 1993).

References

• Ian Richard Netton (19 December 2013). Encyclopaedia of Islam. Routledge. p. 229. ISBN 978-1-135-17960-1.