Diyanet Encyclopedia of Islam

The Diyanet Encyclopedia of Islam (Türkiye Diyanet Foundation Encyclopedia of Islam) is an original compendium primarily written by the Muslim contributors. It is original in terms of the entry list, the content, and the wording. The encyclopedia provides accurate and sufficient information on various aspects of Islam, from the inception of the religion to the present day, including history, civilization, and societies of Islam. It also serves as a comprehensive and reliable source for researching the fields of the Islamic sciences and Islamic thought, in addition to various areas of the humanities and social sciences.

The work undertaken by the General Directorate of the Diyanet Encyclopedia of Islam, which was established by the Türkiye Diyanet Foundation at the end of 1983. The first fruits sprouted in 1988 with the publication of Volume 1 of the Diyanet Encyclopedia of Islam. In the same year, the Türkiye Diyanet Foundation Centre for Islamic Studies (İSAM) was established to contribute to the training of qualified scholars, especially in the field of theology and the Islamic sciences. In 1993, encyclopedia studies and researcher training activities were merged under the same roof within İSAM. Since then, the Diyanet Encyclopedia of Islam, prepared by İSAM, has become a complete work in print with the publication of its 44th volume at the end of 2013 and two additional volumes in 2016.

The Diyanet Encyclopedia of Islam is a joint product of scholars and researchers who belong to different fields of humanities and social sciences, such as history, literature, philosophy, the history of art, history of science, as well as the Islamic sciences and Islamic thought. In this respect, the encyclopedia is an important experience that develops a culture of collaboration between different scientific disciplines and reflects the scholarly accumulation of Türkiye. On the other hand, the Diyanet Encyclopedia of Islam, which itself contributes to the quality of academic research conducted in these branches of knowledge in Turkey, features contributions from over 2,000 experts and researchers in the field, the majority of whom are from Türkiye, who assisted during the stages of compilation and editing.

On January 25, 2014, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced the decision to provide the encyclopedia for free over the internet while speaking at the Islamic Cultural Service of the Century, Honor, and Service Awards ceremony, held at the Haliç Congress Center in Istanbul, in honor of the completion of the Diyanet Encyclopedia of Islam, the product of 33 years of work. As the institution that prepared the encyclopedia, İSAM received an award at the 2014 Presidential Culture and Arts Grand Awards. The encyclopedia also received the “Turkish Academy of Sciences (TÜBA) 2019 Fuat Sezgin Authored Book Award.”

Electronic Encyclopedia
The first phase of improving the web page of the Diyanet Encyclopedia of Islam, in terms of the visual elements and functionality, has been completed in 2018, with continued efforts to transform it into a complete electronic encyclopedia. The test publication of the Diyanet Encyclopedia of Islam has begun with this new look, available at islamansiklopedisi.org.tr. There is an ongoing endeavor to enhance the usability and efficiency of the encyclopedia for a wider audience and to facilitate updates in line with modern research in the subjects covered by the encyclopedia, addressing the needs of the readership.

In terms of this digital edition of the Diyanet Encyclopedia of Islam, many new features have been introduced. Such feature include: a “related articles” list on each page that links to similar articles, the digitization and transfer of visual materials (miniatures, photographs, pictures, maps, drawings, and tables) from the printed encyclopedia to the article pages, a preview function that enables navigation between different sections of multi-authored and/or multi-section articles, thematic files, and biography pages that provide access to the biographies of article authors and lists the articles they have written.

Click here for more information about the Diyanet Encyclopedia of Islam in both the print and digital formats.