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 and that which do not.
A French translation of the book by Gimaret, Monnot and Jolivet was sponsored by UNESCO (Livre des religions et des sectes. Leuven, Peeters: vol. I, 1986, Vol. II, 1993).
Contents The book goes through six different major sectarian divisions and then the subdivisions within them, including:
Mu'tazilism Jabriyya Sifatiyya Kharijites Murji'ah Shia Islam
See also Al-Farq bayn al-Firaq List of Sunni books
References