In 2008, the Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia (IKIM) acquired a special collection on Islamic Civilization totalling 8064 volumes. The breadth of the collection is seen by the presence of many monumental works in different languages on architecture to decorative arts, to the lesser known works on arms and armour, textiles, ceramics, metal works, glass works and the decorative features which give Muslim arts their distinctive character, covering various geographical domains from the Muslim heartland of the Arabian Peninsula, Turkey, Persia, Muslim Northern Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Spain, Indian Sub-Continent, Central Asia, and the Malay Archipelago. These rare, scholarly and antiquarian books are mainly published from the 17th to 19th centuries CE, and were the personal collection of distinguished scholars and enthusiasts on the civilization of Islam in the West, namely, Professor Emeritus Dr. Maan Z. Madina (1927-2013) from Columbia University, Prof. Dr. Marilyn Jenkins-Madina from the Department of Islamic Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; and Professor Emeritus Dr. Jerome W. Clinton (1937–2003) of Princeton University.

The collection is divided into three (3) categories i.e Rare Books, Non Rare Books and Journals. There are five (5) journals which belongs to IKIM Library that could be accessed either in hardcopy format and electronic format as follows:

1. Anatolian Studies: Journal of the British of Archeology at Ankara.

Vol. 1-52 (Hardcopy); Vol. 59-69 (Electronic format); Vol. 53-58 (Could be accessed at Syed Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas Library, Islamic University of Malaysia).

2. Arab Science & Philosophy: A Historical Journal. 

Vol. 1-14 (Hardcopy); Vol. 10-29 (Electronic format).

3. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies.

Vol. 1-65 (Hardcopy); Vol. 64-82 (Electronic format).

4. International Journal of Middle East Studies.

Vol. 1-33 (Hardcopy); Vol. 32-51 (Electronic format).

5. Modern Asian Studies.

Vol. 1-38 (Hardcopy); Vol. 32-53 (Electronic format).