Sources: The New Encyclopedia of Islam

The New Encyclopedia of Islam. 4th ed. ed. By Cyril Glasse. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014. 736 pages. $95 (ISBN: 978-1-4422-2348-6).

The 4th edition adds roughly 100 new items as well as revisions and updates to previously published entries. By and large, the entries are well researched and easy to follow, exceptions noted below. Islam's rituals, doctrines, early history, sects, and key figures in its development are covered thoroughly, as are the later scholars, philosophers, and rulers. From this standpoint the work is a straightforward ready reference source on the religion. There are however major omissions in this work. Namely, inadequate coverage of the modern era and non-Middle Eastern Muslim communities. Furthermore, Mr. Glasse is obviously partial to philosophical topics, which is not an issue in and of itself, but when other areas are neglected it becomes problematic.

An example of the book's Middle East focus is the cursory coverage of the rich Islamic history in Sub-Saharan Africa. There is a brief mention of the Sokoto Caliphate in West Africa, but the Tukulor Empire is absent. It seems inconceivable that events that had as dramatic effect and geographical spread as the West African jihads would have been ignored if they occurred in Turkey or Syria during the same time period of the nineteenth century. Likewise, there is no mention of Timbuktu, Songhay, and either Mali the empire or the modern country. A similar exercise could be repeated with South and South East Asia. Often the refrain from authors of encyclopedias is that not everything can be included and something will be neglected. True indeed, however Glasse undermines this argument by seeing fit to write a curious 22 ½ page entry on the topic of Manicheism, which happens to be four times longer than the entries on Muhammad and Islam combined. An odd choice, and one that no doubt pushed many important topics to the wayside.

Glasse could be given a pass for continuing the tradition of ignoring large swaths of non-Middle Eastern Islamic history, an unfortunate common attribute of general encyclopedias of Islam. However, it is perplexing that he chose to ignore so many current topics within the Muslim world. For instance, there is very little on modern extremist movements or their development, save an entry for the Taliban and a couple of short entries on the Muslim Brotherhood, Al Qaeda, Sayyid Qutb, and even shorter mention of groups such as Abu Sayyaf. It is true that these groups are mere blips in the long history of Islam, yet, they are basic starting points of research for many students today and this work simply falls short in this regard. It would be difficult to recommend this book for any researcher looking for information beyond the early history and development of Islam. Serious scholars would eschew this work for an edition of the voluminous Encyclopaedia of Islam (Brill, 1960-2007; 2007-) and beginning scholars are likely to be confused by the dearth of entries on contemporary topics.

This encyclopedia has value, including an extensive chronology, maps, and early empire genealogies, but it does not otherwise stand out in any particular way from similar works that have proliferated in recent years. Its shortcomings are many and it may be benefiting from the reputation of its first edition (1989), which was widely praised and respected. The world has changed dramatically in 25 years and that is not fully captured in this edition.—Brent D. Singleton, Coordinator for Reference Services, California State University, San Bernardino, California