Review of the article “Ali” in the Encyclopedia Americana

Considering the special place of encyclopedias in injecting information, and awareness in general and even at the level of the general public or even researchers, review and critique, the articles compiled in this encyclopedia and determining the validity and accuracy of the content presented in those articles is necessary and certain. The Encyclopaedia Americana, the world's oldest English-language encyclopedia and well-known among the world's public encyclopedias, is a reference encyclopedia written by more than 6,500 researchers on a variety of topics.The incomplete and erroneous picture of the Shi’ah and Shi’ah Imams presented in this encyclopedia, with the help of library tools and referring to historical and hadith sources, led the author of this article to critique and review the article “Ali” in this encyclopedia. The brevity of the article on the most important figure in the Islamic world after the noble Prophet [PBUH], incorrect and one-sided analyzes, as well as fanatical attitudes resulting from incorrect and incomplete information and limited references in this article written by Orientalist William Montgomery Watt are among the criticisms of this entry in the American Encyclopedia.