Sullam al-samawat

In the Persianate world, encyclopaedias have a long history. Arabic works by Persian authors aside (like Ibn Farighun's Jami? al-?ulum, 4th/10th century), the earliest encyclopaedia in Persian is Avicenna's (d. 428/1037) philosophical Danishnama-yi ?Ala?i. Fakhr al-Din Razi's (d. 606/1210) Jami? al-'ulum on the other hand, is an encyclopaedia on everything there was to know at the time. Philosophical encyclopaedias would usually divide into logic, physics and metaphysics, more general encyclopaedias into the pre-Islamic and Islamic sciences, also called the rational (?aqli) and traditional (naqli) sciences, even if a strict separation was not always maintained. In addition, there were also specialized encyclopaedias like Ibn Husayn Jurjani's medical Dhakhira-yi Khwarazmshahi (early 6th/12th century). The content of encyclopaedias often being dependent on the author's interests and intellectual horizon, no universal format exists. The present work by Abu Qasim Kazaruni (fl. early 11th/17th century) is an example of a very personal encyclopaedia, treating of religion, philosophy, and literature.