During its work in a range of Muslim countries from Afghanistan to Indonesia, UN-HABITAT has been increasingly aware of the importance of Islamic land tenure conceptions and land rights. Over 20 percent of the world’s population is Muslim but there has been little research on the complex and distinctive forms of land tenure and land rights. The Land Tenure and Property Administration Section of UN-HABITAT therefore commissioned a year long in depth study of the Islamic and other dimensions of land and property rights in the Muslim world which is reproduced in Sait S and Lim H (2006) Land Law and Islam: Property and Human Rights in the Muslim World (London: Zed Press/UN-HABITAT).

This series of briefing papers is intended to provide policy makers and others working on land issues in Muslim contexts an easy reference to Islamic dimensions through a question and answer format. This output is part of the Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) Islamic Land Tools Initiative which explores different land rights conceptions and practice as well as tenure forms towards development of authentic and innovative strategies for enhancing access to land rights.

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