A SURVEY OF ENCYCLOPEDIC WORKS ON ISLAM IN THE ENGLISH AND TURKISH LANGUAGE

Abstract

Muslims have a long tradition of producing reference works. These works encyclopedias among them, were tradtlionally written in the Arabic language, as Muslims' lingua franca, or vernacular languages of the Muslim civilization, such as the Turkish language. Writting encyclopedias on Islam in English is a phenomenon which belongs to modern times. Originally it was the endeavor of Orientalists. However, the 20'" century saw the emergence of encyclopedias on Islam written in English by Muslim authors. This research surveys encyclopedic works on Islam of academic merit, such as encyclopedias, encyclopedic dictionaries and lexicons, published in English and Turkish language. Its objective was to describe and evaluate these works. Description was dane by providing full bibliographical information and publishing history on each work. Evaluation was dane by considering the authority, scope, treatment and the arrangement of the works under study. The researcher has found that the most serious and complete encyclopedic works on Islam in these two languages are those done by the Orientalists. Leiden's Encyclopedia of islam, especially in its new edition, in spite of belonging to Orientalist discourse, is still indispensable. In the category of short encyclopedias Cyril Glasse's The Concise Encyclopedia of Islam is a move toward a more objective encyclopedic work on Islam by a Western scholar. Muslim attempts to produce encyclopedic works on Islam in English have not been successful. In the case of encyclopedic works in Turkish, the real break through was the appearance of the Turkish Religious Foundation Encyclopedia of Islam (Turkiye Diyanel Vakfi Islam Ansiklopedisi), which is the most serious project in this field underway in the Muslim world. Its immediate translation into Arabic and English would be of highest importance for the Muslim as well as the non-Muslim public.