In order to compile Fatawa-e-Alamgiri, emperor Aurangzeb gathered 500 experts in Islamic jurisprudence, 300 from South Asia, 100 from Iraq and 100 from the Hejaz.

[6] The years long work of these scholars resulted in an Islamic code of law for South Asia, in the late Mughal Era.

It consists of legal code on personal, family, slaves, war, property, inter-religious relations, transaction, taxation, economic and other law for a range of possible situations and their juristic rulings by the faqīh of the time.

[7] The Fatawa is notable for several reasons: In substance similar to other Hanafi texts,[10] the laws in Fatawa-i Alamgiri describe, among other things, the following: The Fatwa-e-Alamgiri also formalized the legal principle of Muhtasib, or office of censor[29] that was already in use by previous rulers of the Mughal Empire.

[2] The Fatawa-e-Alamgiri (also spelled Fatawa al-Alamgiriyya) was compiled in the late 1672, by 500 Muslim scholars from Medina, Baghdad and in the Indian Subcontinent, in Delhi (India) and Lahore (Pakistan), led by Sheikh Nizam Burhanpuri.

Ahmet Özel from Atatürk University has reported in his work on TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, el-alemgiriyye, that Fatawa-e-Alamgiri has spread fast to Anatolia during Aurangzeb rule due to the promotions of travellers, scholars, and officials.

[3] Fatawa-i Alamgiri, as the documented Islamic law book, became the foundation of legal system of India during Aurangzeb and later Muslim rulers.

It also led to inconsistent interpretation-driven, variegated judgments in similar legal cases, an issue that troubled British colonial officials.

[3][35] However, this assumption unravelled in the 2nd half of the 19th century, because of inconsistencies and internal contradictions within Fatawa-i Alamgiri, as well as because the Aurangzeb-sponsored document was based on Hanafi Sunni sharia.

The text considers contract not as a written document between two parties, but an oral agreement, in some cases such as marriage, one in the presence of witnesses.