دائرة المعارف

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Encyclopedia of the Fourteenth Century A.H., Twentieth Century A.D.: A Reference for the Arabic Language and the Universal Sciences Description This ten-volume encyclopedia is an effort to reconcile Islamic belief with the scientific and intellectual currents of the West early in the 20th century. Entirely the work of one man, Muhammad Farid Wajdi, or Wadjdi (1875−1954)‏, it is arranged in the same way as European reference works, i.e., alphabetically, with long essays on important topics. In each of these, the author argues that the Qurʼan and the prophetic traditions of Islam are predictive of or compatible with modern science and rational (but not materialistic) philosophies. The encyclopedia was intended as a comprehensive reference for students on the entirety of human knowledge and was approved for distribution to all Egyptian schools. A prolific and prolix apologist for Islam who served as editor of the journal of al-Azhar, Wajdi was among the prominent reformist Muslim thinkers of his time. These reformists questioned not only traditional analytical methodologies, but also European Orientalist approaches. In politics, they were nationalists, opposed to both European colonia