TEHRAN -- The first volume of the English translation of the Great Islamic Encyclopedia was unveiled during a ceremony held at the Center for the Great Islamic Encyclopedia on Tuesday.

The Institute of Ismaili Studies (IIS) in collaboration with the Center for the Great Islamic Encyclopedia in Tehran developed the project under the general direction of Professor Wilferd Madelung, Senior Research Fellow at IIS and Professor Emeritus at Oxford University, who has worked on the English version of the Encyclopedia Islamica for several years.
Several Iranian researchers and scholars including Ahmad Pakatchi, Farhad Daftari and Reza Shah-Kazemi also collaborated in the project.
Secretary of the program Asghar Dadbeh was the first to speak at the ceremony and said, “What makes this project outstanding is the collaboration of the Iranian researchers who completed the work.”
Director of the center was next to talk and stated, “Many articles by university scholars and experts were added to the first volume of the book. Its Arabic translation is a great resource for students and its English translation will undoubtedly attract many. It will also create a big change in the way research is done in the country.”
Translators Ahmad Pakatchi and Reza Shah-Kazemi were also present at the ceremony and talked about the function of the encyclopedia.
So far, fifteen volumes of the Great Islamic Encyclopedia have been published and its 16th volume is also on the way.
The encyclopedia serves as a comprehensive and balanced reference on the Muslim world in all its intellectual and cultural diversity, and is an important first point of reference for scholars and students of Islamic Studies.