Searchable Online Version Al-Tahānawī, Kashshāf Iṣṭilāḥāt al-Funūn wa-l-ʿUlūm كشّاف اصطلاحات الفنون والعلوم للتهانوي

The Kashshāf is a Perso-centric Arabic-language encyclopedia (besides the Dastūr of Aḥmadnagarī ) written by an Indian Muslim scholar. The Kashshāf is more than twice and a half larger than the Dastūr, taking up 3300 pages. It is also more technical, concerning itself only with terms used in the arts and sciences, rather than defining terms like a lexicon. Like the Dastūr, it makes ample use of Persian. The writer is Muḥammad ʿAlī al-Fārūqī al-Ḥanafī al-Tahānawī, who died in about 1777 CE / 1191 AH, though the encyclopedia itself was finished in about 1745 CE / 1158 AH. His name of al-Tahānawī (also written as Thanwi and Thanvi) refers to the village of Thana Bhawan in the state of Uttar Pradesh, close to Muzaffarnagar and Deoband and 120 km north of Delhi. Muḥammad ʿAlī al-Tahānawī should not be confused with other Indian scholars from Thana Bhawan who also share the Tahanawi/Thanwi last name, such as Ashraf Ali Thanwi (d. 1943 CE). A 1996 CE print of this encyclopedia included English and French translations of the headwords, included on our site as well.