A Dictionary of Islam.

Conceived as a single-volume guide to a vast subject, this reference work sets out to gather, in alphabetical order, the doctrines, rites, ceremonies, and technical terms of Islam for the English-reading student.

What it's about

A Dictionary of Islam is an encyclopaedic reference compiled by Thomas Patrick Hughes, offering entries on the beliefs, practices, institutions, and vocabulary of the Muslim world. It ranges across theology, law, custom, and history, aiming to serve as a comprehensive handbook for its readers.

Themes

The systematic organisation of religious knowledge, the nineteenth-century encounter between Western scholarship and Islam, and the effort to render a great tradition accessible to an outside audience. Its perspective belongs firmly to its era.

Why it still matters

As a monument of Victorian scholarship, the work documents both its subject and the assumptions of the age that produced it. Read with awareness of its period standpoint, it remains a substantial historical reference.

Who it's for

Students of religion and of the history of scholarship, and readers interested in how earlier generations sought to understand Islam.

Sources and references

Verified references for this edition: Open Library, WorldCat, Thomas Patrick Hughes on Wikipedia.