author

Thomas Patrick Hughes

1838–1911

A Victorian missionary-scholar who spent two decades in Peshawar, he is best remembered for bringing his study of Islam to a wide English-speaking readership. His work blends firsthand experience, language study, and the religious debates of the late 19th century.

1 Audiobook

A Dictionary of Islam Being a cyclopedia of the doctrines, rites, ceremonies, and customs, together with the technical and theological terms, of the Muhammadan religion.

A Dictionary of Islam Being a cyclopedia of the doctrines, rites, ceremonies, and customs, together with the technical and theological terms, of the Muhammadan religion.

by Thomas Patrick Hughes

About the author

Born in Ludlow, England, on March 26, 1838, Thomas Patrick Hughes was a British Anglican missionary and writer. He worked with the Church Missionary Society and spent about twenty years in Peshawar in British India, where he became known for his language skills and close study of Islam.

Hughes wrote on religion, missionary work, and the cultures of the region, but he is especially remembered for A Dictionary of Islam (1885). That reference work helped introduce many English-speaking readers to Islamic beliefs, practices, and terminology, even as it clearly reflected the missionary viewpoint of its time.

He died on August 8, 1911. Today, his books remain of interest to readers studying the history of Christian missions, Victorian scholarship, and older English-language writing about Islam.