A Comparative Approach to Specialized Encyclopedias of Islamic Theology; Strengths and Weaknesses

With the increasing volume of human information in various fields, researchers have found it difficult to access sufficient and useful information in a short time for their subjects. Compiling "reference resources" such as dictionaries and encyclopedias has been one of the human solutions to this problem. This paper examines and evaluates the most important encyclopedias and dictionaries that have been compiled in the field of Islamic theology from 1991 to 2008, and have been made available to the scholars. Before going into the evaluation of each of these works, some of the reference resources, including dictionaries, thesauruses, and encyclopedias, and their differences, roles and functions in developing human knowledge, are briefly described. Then, the main topic, which is the evaluation of theological dictionaries and encyclopedias and their strengths and shortcomings, are going to be dealt with. There are five resources in both Arabic and Persian.   Finally, another resource of Islamic theological encyclopedia that will be published in the near future is introduced and its advantages are mentioned.