The politics of the digitization of Islamic materials is rarely discussed let alone analysed. A recent example of this phenomenon is the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Syria and Iran in which the digital medium played a decisive role. However, less attention had been focussed on the existence of a gaping “digital divide” in academic digitization initiatives. The digitization of Islamic materials has steadily increased with numerous projects and websites dedicated to legal (and illegal) digital surrogates of printed books and manuscripts. Yet, as the digital field continues to grow one must consider the long-term implications of this massive growth. What materials are being digitized and therefore, made more accessible and more likely to be studied? Conversely, what is not being digitized? What unintentional lacunae are being created by the unsystematic approach of current digital Islamic humanities projects? A survey of the Islamic digital field will guide one to many digital projects underway in academic institutions on subjects such as the classical Persian poetry of Firdawsi and Saʻdi; Arabic philosophical texts e.g. Ibn Sina (Avicenna) and al-Ghazzali; (Mughal) miniature paintings; and calligraphic specimens. Each of these projects has merits and offers great insight into the culture of the Muslim world. However, cohesive and coherent plans to digitize materials exist only at the local institutional level. Herein lies one prominent aspect of the “digital divide,” that is, the imbalance of power between the countries of the Middle East and North America in deciding what ought to be digitized, and thereby simultaneously defining what ought to be studied. This has led to an imbalance of materials available to new scholars and has largely left local considerations of what materials are significant out of the equation. This paper will discuss the issues of the digital divide in terms of Islamic materials. In so doing, the paper will articulate the opportunities and challenges of digitizing Islamic materials and the impact on future scholars and the access to resources.