Mawsuat al-Mafahim al-Islamiyya al-Amma
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- Mawsuat al-Mafahim al-Islamiyya al-Amma
Mawsuat al-Mafahim al-Islamiyya al-Amma (Encyclopedia of General Islamic Concepts) is an Arabic reference work produced by a collective of scholars under the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs in Egypt, serving as an introductory volume for a broader encyclopedic series on Islamic thought and civilization.
Background and Purpose
In Ramadan 1417 AH (February 1997 CE), the Center for Islamic Studies and Encyclopedias was founded within the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs under the Egyptian Ministry of Awqaf. The center was tasked with tracking foreign publications concerning Islam to offer scholarly responses, as well as publishing specialized Islamic encyclopedias in Arabic and foreign languages. Rather than undertaking a single vast project spanning generations, the Council opted to divide Islamic thought and civilization into fifteen distinct specialized volumes, preceded by an introductory volume dedicated to foundational concepts and terminology.
The explicit objective of the encyclopedia was to clarify Islamic terminology, eliminate intellectual confusion caused by contemporary ideological disputes, and protect Muslims from misleading slogans. The project was also conceived to present an authentic Islamic perspective that balances Western orientalist compilations such as the Encyclopaedia of Islam, with plans to translate completed volumes into English and French.
Authorship and Editorial Team
The work was supervised by Mahmoud Hamdi Zaqzouq, the Egyptian Minister of Awqaf, who penned its preface dated 1 Rabiʿ al-Awwal 1422 AH (24 May 2001 CE). A specialized committee proposed the headwords, and more than one hundred scholars and thinkers contributed entries. The preparation and editing were coordinated by Dr. Abd al-Sabur Marzuq, Vice President of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, and Dr. Ali Gomaa, then professor at Al-Azhar University, alongside editorial researchers from the Council, with input on the first release from Sami Khashaba.
Structure and Content
The encyclopedia is organized alphabetically by headword. The first release contained 314 terms, while the expanded edition encompassed approximately 700 to 770 entries covering general concepts across Islamic doctrine, law, history, and ethics. The entries are written in an academic, objective prose style, providing definitions, relevant scriptural or textual evidence, differing scholarly opinions, and reference lists for further reading.
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