The Encyclopedia of Islam (EI) is a scholarly encyclopedia covering all aspects of Islamic civilization and history. 1913 advertisement for Encyclopædia Britannica. ... The Suleiman Mosque (Süleymaniye Camii) in Istanbul was built on the order of sultan Suleiman the Magnificent by the great Ottoman architect Sinan in 1557 The History of Islam is the history of the Islamic faith and the world it shaped as a social, cultural, and political phenomenon. ...

Standing

EI is considered by academics to be the standard reference work in the field of Islamic studies:

The most important and comprehensive reference tool for Islamic studies is the Encyclopedia of Islam, an immense effort to deal with every aspect of Islamic civilization, conceived in the widest sense, from its origins down to the present day... EI is no anonymous digest of received wisdom. Most of the articles are signed, and while some are hardly more than dictionary entries, others are true research pieces- in many case the best available treatment of their subject.

(Humphreys, p. 4)

Editions

EI has three versions. The first (EI¹) was published in three volumes plus supplement from 1913 to 1938 in English, German, and French editions. An abridged version was published in 1953 as the Shorter Encyclopedia of Islam (SEI) and covers mainly law and religion. The current, second edition of Encyclopedia of Islam (EI²) was begun in 1954 and completed only recently; it is published by the Dutch company Brill Academic Publishers. The word English can mean: The people of England as an ethnic group. ... The word German can mean: From or related to Germany or its predecessor states - see also the German language Germanic tribes Holy Roman Empire (843-1806) German Confederation (1815-1866) North German Confederation (1867 - 1871) Germany, the modern nation-state founded in 1871 When used to denote a person, Germans... Wiktionary has a definition of: French Wikipedia en français French in its formal sense and used in its capitalized form, denotes: Something from or related to France. ... The word Dutch when used alone, has several possible meanings in the English language. ...

Besides a great expansion in content, the second edition of EI differs from the first mainly in incorporating the work of scholars of Muslim and Middle Eastern background: A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ...

EI¹ and SEI were produced almost entirely by European scholars, and they represent a specifically European interpretation of Islamic civilization. The point is not that this interpretation is "wrong", but that the questions addressed in these volumes often differ sharply from those which Muslims have traditionally asked about themselves. EI² is a somewhat different matter. It began in much the same way as its predecessor, but a growing proportion of the articles now come from scholars of Muslim background. The persons do not represent the traditional learning of Qom and al-Azhar, to be sure; they have been trained in Western-style universities, and they share the methodology if not always the cultural values and attitudes of their Western colleagues. Even so, the change in tone is perceptible and significant.

(Humphreys, pp. 4-5)

Categories: Iran geography stubs | Holy cities | Cities in Iran ... Al-Azhar Islamic university in Cairo Egypt Al-Azhar University is connected to the mosque in Cairo named to honor Fatima Az-Zahraa, the daughter of Muhammad, from whom the Fatimid Dynasty claimed descent. ...

References

• Encyclopedia of Islam Online Edition (http://www.encislam.brill.nl/logincheck.asp)
  • EI Online Demo Page (http://www.encislam.demo.brill.nl/)
• R. Stephen Humphreys (1991). Islamic History: A Framework for Inquiry. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-00856-6.