Tehran-based publisher Hekmat has recently released the 16th volume of the Shiism Encyclopedia, the first volume of which was published in 1981.
The volume was unveiled during a ceremony on Sunday held by the Persian literary monthly Bokhara at the Persian Language Center.
Experts contributing to the encyclopedia, including Mehdi Mohaqqeq, Bahaeddin Khorramshahi, Kamran Fani and Hassan Anusheh, attended the ceremony.
“One of the cultural events occurring after the victory of the Islamic Revolution is encyclopedia writing,” said Fani.
“Promotion of encyclopedia writing shows a sign of an inquisitive society,” he added.
He said there are some close “affinities” between the encyclopedia and Iran, and added, “Iran is the largest Shia country and the focus of every encyclopedia on Shiism is on Iran.”
He expressed his hope that the Shiism Encyclopedia would be completed in the upcoming year.
“The material in encyclopedias will gradually become old and need to revised, so the completion of every encyclopedia is a new beginning and not an end,” Fani stated.
The organizers also paid tribute to Ahmad-Sadr Haj Seyyed-Javadi and Fahimieh Mohebbi, the deceased experts who made major contributions to the book.
The encyclopedia contains over 20,000 articles about key concepts in the Nahj-ul-Balagha, life story of Prophet Muhammad (S) and his companions, major Shia families and elites, books on Shias, and many other subjects.