The Encyclopedia of the World of Islam, Tehran

The Encyclopaedia Islamica Foundation is a non-profitable organization whose main objective is to compile the Encyclopaedia of the World of Islam. The Foundation was established in Tehran in 1983, launching its activities in the field of research about the world of Islam and Iran, gradually turning into one of the credible centers for encyclopaedia writing in the field of the world of Islam. From the very beginning, the stylebook and the instructions were prepared through the efforts of a number of researchers and scholars to prepare the grounds for the compilation of an encyclopaedia to be used as a reference book. Besides the publication of ten volumes of the Encyclopaedia of the World of Islam the Foundation has thus far published some other works as well. For more information about the history and process of formation of the Foundation, the same entry (in Persian Bonyad) in the Encyclopaedia may be studied.
The organizational structure of the foundation has four main bodies:
1 – President
2 – Board of Trustees
3 – Board of Directors
4 – Board of Scientific Advisors
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei is the President of the Foundation, which was founded on his decision during his first term of presidency (1981-1985) and is still supported by him.
The Board of Trustees has fourteen members who are outstanding scholars of the universities and seminaries of Iran: Nasrullah Pourjavadi (Managing Director 1985-2000), Gholamali Hadad Adel (Managing Director since 1995), Gholamali Khoshrou, Ja’far Sobhani, Abdulkarim Soroush, Seyed Ja’far Shahidi, Jamluddin Shirazian, Hasan Tarami Rad (Deputy Director for Scientific Affairs since 1997), Abulqasem Gorji, Sadeq Larijani, Mahdi Mohaqeq (Managing Director 1983-1985), Mohammad Hadi Ma’refat, Seyed Mostafa Mirsalim (Head of the Board of Trustees; Managing Director 2000-1995), and Ali Akbar Velayati.
According to the Statute of the Encyclopaedia Islamica Foundation, the main prerogatives and responsibilities of the Board of Trustees are: setting the main policies as well as the scientific criteria and regulations of the Encyclopaedia of the World of Islam, assessing the eligibility of the deputies and advisors, amending the Statute and evaluating special cases.
Managerial Board is constituted of the Board of Trustees, Managing Director and his deputies. The Managing Director is elected on the proposal of the Board of Trustees and approval of the President. His responsibilities and prerogatives include the appointment and dismissal of the deputy for scientific affairs, deputy for executive affairs, establishment of different departments of the Foundation and running the scientific and executive affairs of the Foundation. The Scientific Organization of the Foundation is under his deputy for scientific affairs, while the Administrative and Financial Branches are under his deputy for executive affairs.
Members of the Board of Scientific Advisors, according to the Statute of the Foundation are elected on the proposal of the Managing Director and approval of the Board of Trustees. Advisors are elected from amongst experts, specialists, and scientific authorities in different fields of Islamic teachings and sciences. Some of the advisors work with the Foundation as full-time employees, some part-time and some of them, either Iranian or non-Iranian, give their advises whenever needed. The First Scientific Council was convened for the preparation and implementation of the practical-scientific plan of the Foundation headed by Mahdi Mohaqeq and with the participation of Fathullah Mojtabaee, Ali Ashraf Sadeqi and Abdulhossein Azerang as well as the late Ahmad Araqi (d. 1991) and Abas Zaryab Khoei (d. 1994). During the recent years due to the increase in the number of full-time faculty members of the Foundation, the number of affiliated scientific advisors has reduced.
Scientific Organization of the Foundation is constituted of ten scientific departments, six scientific support units, and the office for on-the-job training as well as the office for calling for and receiving the articles. Every Scientific Department has several main disciplines (branches) and every branch is in charge of compilation of certain number of articles up to the end of the completion of the Encyclopaedia of the World of Islam. The Head of each discipline is in charge of ordering, compiling, evaluating, and editing of the articles related to that discipline. Hence every member of the departments is specialist in a specific field. The affiliated authors, who are now 400, write the articles in coordination with the heads of the departments.
After the articles are received other scientific units (bibliography, entry, editing and translation, pictures, and names) on the basis of the defined workflow prepare the articles for publication in the Encyclopaedia.
The Deputy Managing Director for Scientific Affairs is in charge of proper implementation of the plans of Scientific Organization of the Foundation. It is projected that the Encyclopaedia of the World of Islam will be completed by 2021.
The Encyclopaedia of the World of Islam deals with the teachings of Islam and the civilization and culture of the Muslim nations from the advent of Islam till date. Arranged on an alphabetic order – for the time being beginning with the letter B – the articles of the Encyclopaedia cover a wide range of Islamic teachings and sciences. Attempts have been made to provide the readers with the first-hand information in various fields in an organized manner. Some of the materials that can be accessed from the Encyclopaedia of the World of Islam are: history, geography, terms of Quranic sciences, tradition (hadith), jurisprudence, theology, Islamic mysticism and philosophy, literature and art, the mode of conduct (sirah) of the Prophet, Companion and the Imams, hagiology and viewpoints of a number of exegetes, jurisprudents, theologians, philosophers, mystics, historians, and artists of the world of Islam. For more information about the detailed contents of the Encyclopaedia you may click on the list of entries or search the subjects on the homepage of this site. However, it should be noted that now all articles are in Persian language.
The move to compile the Encyclopaedia of the World of Islam began in the early years after the victory of the Islamic Revolution. Although during the course of the present century a number of academic institutions and orientalists have been continuously working for the compilation of an encyclopaedia about Islam, it is a necessary and valuable move by the Muslims to prepare an encyclopaedia on their own initiative and under their own supervision on the basis of modern methodologies and in the prevailing languages of the world of Islam. The encyclopaedias prepared in the West about the past and present situation of the Islamic world are naturally influenced by the Western approach to Islam and Islamic culture and civilization. Hence the said approach inevitably leaves its impact on the selection, omission, and retention of the entries as well as the quality and quantity of the articles.
It was in the light of the said point and in response to the demands of the Iranian and non-Iranian scientific, cultural community as well as the expectations created in the world in the aftermath of the Islamic Revolution of Iran – the greatest cultural and political development of the world of Islam in contemporary era – for the introduction of Islamic teachings and different aspects of the Islamic culture and civilization and epistemological aspects of the invaluable heritage of the Islamic world that the Encyclopaedia Islamica Foundation was established in 1983, focusing on the compilation and publication of the Encyclopaedia of the World of Islam on the basis of an Islamic and scientific method, containing different Islamic issues as well as the history, civilization and culture of the Islamic nations, particularly Iran and the Persian language. The history of attempts to write encyclopaedias in the Islamic civilization can be traced back to one millennium ago. The Muslims have written a number of works in this field. During the great scientific movement that began from the second century (hegira) and reached its apogee in the third and fourth centuries (hegira), the Muslim scholars conducted profound and wide-ranging studies in all branches of science and knowledge. They created new branches of science and improved the sciences of their time. In fact, they wrote many books and treatises on different branches of human knowledge. In order to facilitate access and also to classify and organize sciences – an outcome of the growth of sciences in the fourth century and the diversity and multiplication of scientific subjects – the need to two kinds of writings arose: first, preparation of a list of the books and treatises to provide information about the contents of various disciplines as well as the biography and hagiology of scholars and authors in each discipline. The Al-Fihrest of Ibn Nadim (d. 385 h.) is an outstanding example of these works. Second, the other need that arose at this stage was compilation of some works about the definition and division of different disciplines and crafts as well as the concise definition of their concepts. The oldest examples of such works are Ihsa al-Ulum of Abu Nasr Farabi (260-339 h.) and Mafatih al-Ulum of Kharazmi (d. 387 h.). Ever since the acquaintance of the Muslims with the modern methods of preparation of encyclopaedia during the recent century, several encyclopaedias have been published in the Muslim countries. Many of those have been prepared on the style of Western encyclopaedias and many of them have borrowed and incorporated some materials from them after translating them into the related languages.
Attempts had been made in Iran since 1948 to translate the Encyclopaedia of Islam (published by Brill) into Persian, but the attempts did not bear fruit. In 1969 a publishers undertook to translate the said encyclopaedia, whose first volume, entitled Encyclopaedia of Iran and Islam, was published in 1975. Later nine other volumes of the same work were gradually published up to 1981. The Persian Encyclopaedia (under the supervision of late Dr. Gholamhossein Mosahab) too contains a number of the articles of Encyclopedia of Islam that have been translated and published.
Although the word da`irat al-Ma’arif (Encyclopaedia) is used in Persian, Arabic and Urdu languages, the Encyclopaedia Islamica Foundation has chosen the word Daneshname in Persian because the word had already been used in the works of the antecedents such as Daneshname Ala’ee of Avicenna and Daneshname Shahi of Muhammad Amin Astarabadi. Since the word Daneshmane is simple and expressive, the foundation preferred this word to da`irat al-ma’arif. Since the Encyclopaedia deals with the world of Islam, its proper name is Encyclopaedia of the World of Islam. Some of the articles of the present Encyclopaedia, particularly those about Islam, Iran and Persian literature, have been specifically written for the Encyclopaedia by the Iranian researchers and scholars of the Muslim countries. Regarding the articles that are not within the field of specialization of Iranian researchers, their translations from foreign sources and references have been incorporated into the Encyclopaedia. Contrary to the Encyclopaedia of Islam and Iran and the Turkish, Arabic and Urdu encyclopaedias that have confined their articles to the translation of one source, i.e., the Encyclopedia of Islam (Brill), the Encyclopaedia of the World of Islam without confining itself to such a limitation, through research and study of various Encyclopaedias has translated the more scholarly articles of these Encyclopaedias and adopted them. At times, through combination of two or more authentic articles a more comprehensive article with a better structure has been prepared.
The names of the authors of the articles have been given at the end of each article. In case the article has been translated from other sources, the references have been given after the name of the authors. If the article has been prepared by several researchers (faculty members) of the Encyclopaedia of the World of Islam, instead of mentioning the names of the researchers, the acronym EWI (Encyclopaedia of the World of Islam) or the Scientific Group has been mentioned. There are two kinds of complementary additions and explanations added to the translated articles: sometimes they have been given at the end of the main translated articles or sometimes they have been added within brackets {} in the body of the article. In order to control the quality of the articles, a workflow has been defined and a strict discipline enforced to achieve the result. According to the envisaged plan it is stipulated that the Encyclopaedia of the World of Islam, in forty volumes, will be completed by 2021. Ten volumes of the Encyclopaedia have been published thus far and in the future some entries of this collection will be selected for translation into Arabic and English languages.
It is pertinent here to give some explanations about the scope of the articles:
A) With regard to the subjects related to the geography of the World of Islam and the language of the center for the publication of the Encyclopaedia, as far as Iran is concerned besides the provinces and provincial capitals, the cities are also introduced. The villages with outstanding cultural background or where an important event had taken place are also mentioned. With regard to other countries, their capitals and cities with historical events during the Islamic period are mentioned. Regarding the territories that had already been Islamic but are no more Islamic (like Spain), or the territories whose Islamic identity is not certain (like Indian subcontinent, Bosnia Herzegovina, and some of the Central Asian countries that have a longstanding history of Islamic culture and civilization and attained independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union), attempts have been made to choose the entries through a broader outlook so that the background of Islamic culture in these regions is elaborated better. Some of the geographical names have had different names (designations) at different stages of history, which underline some of their characteristics. If the said historical stages are to be separately discussed, the said designations (names) will appear under the different names, each of which has an independent entry – like Bab al Abwab and Darband or Mehrjanqazaq, Badreh and Darehshahr or the Persian Sea or the Persian Gulf.
B) Regarding the selection of the books, only the most outstanding ones have been selected. By the most outstanding ones we mean the books that have drawn the attention of the scholars for centuries and a number of commentaries or critiques have been written on them, have been selected or have been text books for a long time, or are considered the oldest Persian source in a specific subject, or have played a great role in the transfer of knowledge from the Islamic field to other fields or vise versa. Other books and scientific works are introduced while discussing the biographies of their authors.
C) The scope of selection is broader regarding the individuals. For instance, the individuals of up to third rank or lower in different fields of science of the Islamic civilization are introduced and in this regard the main criteria for selection are chronological priority, sociopolitical influence and scientific works. Among other criteria for selection of books and individuals are: Iranian nationality and Shiism, for the present Encyclopaedia is expected to pay more attention to the works and individuals of this territory. In fact the biography of a number of dignitaries of the world of Islam are found in other Encyclopaedias. But probably more readers will refer to this source for the issues related to Iran and Shiism.
D) The sciences of the Islamic world may be divided into four categories:
1) The sciences that are originally and merely Islamic, such as jurisprudence, exegesis, hadith (tradition) and theology.
2) The sciences that grew and blossomed during the Islamic period such as mathematics, astronomy, philosophy and medicine.
3) The sciences that are considered prerequisite to knowledge of Islam such as the Arabic language and literature.
4) The sciences and arts prevailing in the Islamic territories such as music and painting.
Evidently the volume of the articles of the Encyclopaedia is directly connected to the their relations with Islam, that is, more space is given to the issues related to the Islamic sciences compared to the issues pertaining to the sciences prevailing in the Islamic territories.
E) In the field of some sciences such as philosophy, a number of non-Muslim philosophers and thinkers who have influenced the Muslims or have been influenced by the Muslims are introduced.
F) Some of the entries of the Encyclopaedia are related to the issues that due to their impact on the politics, economy and culture have left a longstanding, profound effect on the collective fate and public life of the Muslims as well as on the Islamic culture and civilization, including the activities of the groups, associations and parties. More attention has been paid to the events, developments and figures of the recent century – the era of the awakening of the Muslims and age of emergence of Islamic movements against colonialism. The realities of the Islamic Revolution are discussed not only because they constitute a significant, fateful part of the Iranian history, but also because they are a sign of the tendency of the Muslims towards independence and return to their cultural and civilizational origins. The scientific principles and norms will be strictly followed in the preparation of the articles of the encyclopaedia. The foreigners who have had an outstanding presence and role in Iran and in the Islamic countries, such as Shirley brothers, Lord Balfour, Howard Burkesville, and Morgan Schuster, are mentioned in the Encyclopaedia.
F) In the selection of the entries of the Encyclopaedia, attention has been paid to the issues that have some sort of longstanding presence in Muslim societies or Islamic history or have had a positive or negative role in the Islamic culture and civilization such as ethnic and religious customs and norms, festivals and feasts; trees and objects that have had a civilizational or cultural value such as Christmas tree, walnut tree and kilim (mat); edibles mentioned in the holy scriptures, such as fig and pomegranate; herbs and the names of the trees mentioned in the Muslim books. Of course, the critical and other aspects are taken into consideration regarding all these entries.
Specific rules and regulations have been defined for the selection and arrangement of the entries. In order to have more information in this regard, just click on About entries.
G) In writing the articles, the authors and faculty members follow the Editing Stylebook of the Encyclopaedia of the World of Islam. The stylebook of the Encyclopaedia has been prepared by Professor Ahmad Sami’i Gilani and improved through employing the experiences gained in the process of its application.

Library and Information Center:
The establishment of a library was top on the agenda of the founders of the Encyclopaedia Islamica Foundation from the early days of its establishment in 1983. The main objective of the said measure was to create an exclusive site and database to collect and keep the required sources for the faculty members and researchers of the foundation in their attempt to prepare the articles of the Encyclopaedia of the World of Islam.
The officials of the library from the very onset, through consultation with the experts and bibliographers tried to procure the authentic rare sources and books from the private libraries. As a result, in a short period of time the library of foundation turned into one of the specialized libraries of Iran. From the early days of the establishment of the library, the procured books have been prepared on the basis of specific criteria and the main thrust in their preparation has been their relevance to Islam and Iran. Hence, the library enjoys an acceptable qualitative and quantitative (150,000 volumes) credibility. The employment of young experts as well as consultation with the experts of different scientific departments of the foundation and consultation with the libraries and research centers not only have increased the ability of the experts of the library in selection, tracing and listing of the sources, but also have turned the library into a credible center for offering specialized information in the field of encyclopaedia writing. Although the library’s services are open to the users, the firm rules and regulations defined for lending the sources to the members have turned it into a strong data center for them.

Structural Organization of the Library:

1 – Council of the Library
The library is run by a council, which is the highest body for policymaking, planning and continuous supervision over all activities of the library and the information center. The decisions of the council come into effect after they are found compatible with other regulations related to scientific-research activities of the foundation and their official notification after the endorsement of the director of the foundation (Statute of the Council, Article 2).
The combination of the council is as follows:
- Chairman: The Deputy for Scientific Affairs
- Secretary: The Librarian and head of the Information Center
- Two senior scientific board members of the foundation, or the heads of the departments elected by all scientific board members.
- The chairman and secretary of the council are the permanent members of the council while the other four members are elected for a period of two years.
Some of the functions of the council are as follows:
- Policymaking and adjusting the librarianship and information policies with other enacted policies of the foundation.
- Setting the outlines of the plans as well as enacting the short- and long-term plans of the library.
- Continuous supervision over proper implementation of the enacted plans.
- Paying continuous attention to the problems of the library and information center and making attempts to remove them.
- Criticism of the performances and rectification of the methods.
- Establishing relations with the Iranian and non-Iranian libraries and information centers that are somehow related to the objectives of the Encyclopedia of the World of Islam.

2 – The Librarian
The main duties and prerogatives of the librarian are as follows:
- Preparation of the plans for running all the affairs of the library.
- Implementation of the enacted plans of the council of Library.
- Attending to the problems of the library.
- Supervising the needs of the scientific departments and those of the faculty members.
- Preparing the grounds for participation of the officials in charge of procuring of the necessary books in the domestic and foreign book fairs.

3 – Department of Information dissemination and procurement
The main duties of this section of the library include identification, selection, ordering, and procurement of the required data sources. This task is carried out through the supervision and consultation of the librarian with his advisors and faculty members as well as experts and researchers, The orders may be for an individual item or a group of items. Balk orders are carried out through reviewing the domestic or foreign lists, participation in the book fairs, book of the week, and book lists of the publishers. Moreover, this section also identifies the domestic and foreign publishers active in the field of Islam and Iran to procure their lists.
The section also provides the Foundation with the latest information about the latest CDs purchased and surfs the Internet to garner new information.

4 – Department of Bibliography and Technical Services
One of the main duties of this department is to organize and classify the data of the library to facilitate their marketing. The classification of the data is carried out on the basis of the US Congress Library. The subjects of the classification are chosen on the basis of the Persian and English topics after consultation with the experts of the related themes and a group of the faculty members of the Foundation.
Following are the main tasks of this department:
- Preparing the bibliographical lists and classification of the Persian, Arabic and English books.
- Uploading the temporary and permanent information of the procured sources into the database and site of the library to be accessed by the members.
- Creation and organization of the Persian and English catalogues.
- Preparation and distribution of a newsletter about the latest purchased books and uploading it into the section of Scientific and Cultural News of the site.

5 – Periodicals Section
The main functions of this section include the selection, ordering, collection, preparation and lending of the journals required by the scientific board members. Hence this section carries out the following tasks:
- Makes the necessary communications for subscription to new periodicals.
- Removes the shortcomings of the existing periodicals by purchasing the missing issues.
- Prepares the catalogue of the new periodicals and prepares them to fit into the shelves for an easy access.
- Supervises the lending system of the periodicals.

6 – Reference Section and Library Services
According to rules and regulations mentioned in the statute, the reference and non-reference sources are only lent to the members of the library. In addition to supervising the books of the main hall, this section looks after the reference section, which has been named after the late Dr. Ahmad Taheri Araqi as well as the personal library of late Professor Abbas Zaryab Khoei.