Classical Islamic Texts in Arabic Online, Vowelled with English
The Hadith, Tafsir, Sirah and Aqeedah shelves of the Illuminated Arabic Reader hold 13 classical texts — 9,075 pages and 2,084,419 words in total — fully vowelled with line-by-line English, running from the 167-page Sharh Thalathat al-Usul to the four-volume, 4,235-page Sharh Riyad as-Saliheen. This is a language-learning tool, not a substitute for studying religious texts with a qualified teacher.
Reading is free on every page of every book below: full harakat on every word, line-by-line English translation, verb and noun tables, and flashcards built from the page you just read. The complete study layer is free on the first 20 pages of each book and included in any plan after that.
| Title | Arabic title | Pages | Words |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sharh Thalathat al-Usul — The Three Fundamental Principles | شرح ثلاثة الأصول — ابن عثيمين | 167 | 30,142 |
| Sharh Kashf al-Shubuhat — Removal of the Doubts | شرح كشف الشبهات — ابن عثيمين | 157 | 28,763 |
| Subul al-Salam — The Nullifiers of Islam Explained (Ibn Baz) | سبل السلام شرح نواقض الإسلام — ابن باز | 281 | 64,022 |
| Sharh al-Arba'in al-Nawawiyya | شرح الأربعين النووية — ابن عثيمين | 458 | 91,246 |
| Sharh Riyad as-Saliheen, Vol. 1 | شرح رياض الصالحين لابن عثيمين — المجلد الأول | 1,049 | 228,051 |
| Sharh Riyad as-Saliheen, Vol. 2 | شرح رياض الصالحين لابن عثيمين — المجلد الثاني | 1,016 | 216,576 |
| Sharh Riyad as-Saliheen, Vol. 3 | شرح رياض الصالحين لابن عثيمين — المجلد الثالث | 1,053 | 214,520 |
| Sharh Riyad as-Saliheen, Vol. 4 | شرح رياض الصالحين لابن عثيمين — المجلد الرابع | 1,117 | 230,221 |
| Qisas al-Anbiya — Stories of the Prophets (Ibn Kathir) | قصص الأنبياء — ابن كثير | 773 | 174,113 |
| Tafsir as-Saadi | تيسير الكريم الرحمن في تفسير كلام المنان | 1,701 | 571,581 |
| Al-Qawl al-Mufid — Commentary on the Book of Tawhid, Vol. 1 | القول المفيد على كتاب التوحيد — الجزء الأول | 551 | 100,491 |
| Al-Qawl al-Mufid — Commentary on the Book of Tawhid, Vol. 2 | القول المفيد على كتاب التوحيد — الجزء الثاني | 400 | 71,245 |
| Al-Qawl al-Mufid — Commentary on the Book of Tawhid, Vol. 3 | القول المفيد على كتاب التوحيد — الجزء الثالث | 352 | 63,448 |
Who is this shelf for?
This shelf is built for students of knowledge who already read Arabic haltingly — enough to sound out a sentence, not yet enough to read a page of classical prose at speed. It is also built for madrasa and Islamic-school teachers who want a text their students can read in Arabic with an English check beside every line, and for converts and new students building their reading practice directly through the texts they are already studying, rather than through a generic course book unrelated to their actual interest.
In what order should I read them?
Shortest and plainest first: Sharh Thalathat al-Usul → Sharh Kashf al-Shubuhat → Subul al-Salam (Nawaqid al-Islam) → Sharh al-Arba'in al-Nawawiyya → Sharh Riyad as-Saliheen → Qisas al-Anbiya → Tafsir as-Saadi → Al-Qawl al-Mufid. The first three are short, modern-prose aqeedah primers by Ibn Uthaymeen and Ibn Baz, each under 300 pages, and they share enough core vocabulary (توحيد، شرك، عبادة، دليل) that the second and third read faster than the first. Sharh al-Arba'in and the four volumes of Sharh Riyad as-Saliheen are both hadith commentary by Ibn Uthaymeen, so the jump from the aqeedah primers is mostly one of length, not of new vocabulary — see our dedicated Sharh Riyad as-Saliheen study guide before starting the four volumes. Qisas al-Anbiya adds narrative sirah material; Tafsir as-Saadi adds the Qur'an's own vocabulary on top, covered in reading Tafsir as-Saadi as an Arabic learner. Al-Qawl al-Mufid, the longest and most detailed aqeedah commentary, is best left until the shorter primers above it feel familiar.
How hard is the Arabic?
Easier than the page count suggests, because hadith and aqeedah commentary repeats its working vocabulary more than almost any other genre in the library. Our analysis of word coverage found that Sharh Riyad as-Saliheen reaches 73% coverage of its running words at just 2,000 distinct forms — the highest figure of any text group we measured — because religious commentary draws on a comparatively stable, repeating stock of terms rather than the wide vocabulary spread of a novel or a school curriculum. The difficulty in these texts sits in grammar, classical sentence structure, and the matns' terse original wording, not in sheer word count — exactly the gap that full vowelling and a line-by-line English layer are built to close.
What does the matn-and-sharh layout look like on the page?
Every book here pairs an original text (matn) with a later scholar's commentary (sharh): a hadith, a creedal principle, or a verse of the Qur'an is quoted first, then explained clause by clause in plainer modern prose. For a learner this means every idea arrives twice — once in its compact, often older wording, once unpacked — which is exactly the repetition reading comprehension runs on. One of the hadiths anchoring Riyad as-Saliheen captures, in paraphrase, why this kind of close reading matters: when Allah intends good for a person, He grants them deep understanding (fiqh) of the religion — the patient, line-by-line habit this shelf is meant to build.
FAQ
What order should I read classical Islamic texts in Arabic as a learner?
Start with the shortest aqeedah primers — Sharh Thalathat al-Usul, then Sharh Kashf al-Shubuhat, then Subul al-Salam (Nawaqid al-Islam) — before moving to the longer hadith commentaries (Sharh al-Arba'in, then Sharh Riyad as-Saliheen), then Qisas al-Anbiya, Tafsir as-Saadi, and finally Al-Qawl al-Mufid.
Is Sharh Riyad as-Saliheen hard to read in Arabic?
It is long (4,235 pages across four volumes) but its vocabulary repeats heavily: our word-coverage analysis found 73% of its running words are covered by just the top 2,000 distinct forms, the highest of any text in our library. See the full study guide.
What's the difference between a matn and a sharh?
A matn is the original terse text — a hadith, a creedal statement, a Qur'anic verse — and a sharh is a later scholar's commentary explaining it in fuller, plainer language. Every book on this shelf gives you both, so each idea appears once in compact original wording and once explained.
Can reading tafsir really help me learn Arabic?
Yes — Tafsir as-Saadi in particular is written in deliberately clear modern prose, and because you usually already know a verse's general meaning in translation, your attention goes toward decoding the Arabic rather than guessing at the content. See reading Tafsir as-Saadi as an Arabic learner.
Is this site a substitute for studying with a scholar or teacher?
No. This is a language-learning tool for reading classical Arabic texts with vowelling and translation support — it is not a substitute for studying religious texts with a qualified teacher.