Muslims approaches to Interfaith Dialogue : The Authentic and the Apologetic
Adis Duderija
This piece of writing was prompted by the author’s attendance of a recently organised inter-faith dialogue in his place of residence,
I would like to analyse the imam’s ( who has a significant following and is seen as ‘progressive’ by many young people) speech in relation to the question of an authentic vs. apologetic approach to inter-faith dialogue. An authentic approach I define as one that deals with the reality of the complex nature ,diversity and at times mutually exclusive strands of what constitutes a religious tradition with the attendant issue of who has the power and authority to ‘canonise’ and interpret that very tradition. An approach which evaluates religious tradition holistically, contextually and in a historically sensitive manner. An apologetic approach, on the other hand, strives to score an ideological point in most cases but importantly it is also a one dimensional approach and an understanding of the religious tradition based on selective utilisation of tradition that suppresses certain aspects of it and privileges others, an approach which is at best semi-contextualist and not attune to the historical circumstances in which the tradition unfolded.
Islam, according to the imam in question, by the virtue of its very doctrine (‘aqidah) has a very ‘inclusivist’ approach to inter-faith, although God recognises one din by which the imam implicitly assumes that that din is the historical religion of prophet Muhammad ( here he neglects explicit Qur’anic verses that do recognise the multiplicity of manahij (paths) towards shari’ah ( pathway to God) and not din as well as his reification of Islam and confluence with the historical Islam of prophet Muhammad . According to the imam this inclusivism is attested by the Islam’s doctrinal principles of unity of God’s Message, the very meaning of Islam/Muslims, the unity of Prophet hood and the historical truth of Islam’s ‘tolerance’ of non-Muslim religions based on the Qur’anically founded principle bestowing upon non-Muslims the right to worship in freedom.
Now this all sounds nice and ‘beautiful’ in the world of late modernity ( or post-modernity) but it is no so much what the imam did say that I am critical of but of the things he did not say that I find problematic.
Firstly, he did not mention that one part of the ‘mainstream’ Sunni Islamic doctrine is the notion of successive nature of Prophethood which was fulfilled and completed by prophet Muhammad which renders all other existing traditions apriori as ‘incomplete’ ,’corrupted’ or ‘deviant’ . Hence, as Muslims, there is nothing we can learn from “Them” ( in this respect let me mention that before he was to speak a Christian representative was speaking on the issue of inter-faith dialogue from a Catholic perspective and based on the behaviour of another younger imam (engaging in talk with someone else) as well as the imam in question (coming late and leaving the room a number of times) - one could clearly see this attitude of ‘ “you have nothing of importance to say’ manifesting itself by their poor listening and inattention as to what the Christian speaker had to say).
Secondly , the way Islamic historical experience of dealing with the other was presented gave an impression that it represented the pinnacle of ‘tolerance’ ( based use of terminology-used in toxicology as to how much ‘medicine’ one can ‘tolerate’ before it starts having adverse effects ). This brushes aside more problematic evidence, for example in contemporary S.Arabia or other countries (e.g. Afghanistan but also some more ‘secular’ Maghrebi countries) , in relation to issues of non-permissibility of restoration of existing churches and the erecting of new ones or the ban on public practise of non-Muslim faiths ,including proselytising , and the non-existing option of choosing to opt out of Muslim faith ( or if you do it would attract capital punishment, albeit as a last resort not often put into practice ). All of these practices and laws are an organic and mainstream component of pre-modern Islamic law, however, none of it was mentioned by the imam and I have significant doubts that he was not aware of this facet of the Islamic tradition.
Thirdly, the imam did not mention other problematic components of the Islamic tradition on the question of the religious other ,especially the hadith literature. Given his external appearance with the emphasis on the fist long beared and trimmed moustache he must be aware of it. Namely, according to several hadith the Prophet had commanded Muslims to ‘distinguish ‘ themselves from the ‘Jews’ (and Christians) by adopting the above and other practices (which I examined in a paper elsewhere ) . This commandment , if authentic, is not interpreted in a context of the political animosity between the 7th century Medinian Muslims whose very existence was under threat and some Jewish tribes at a particular pointing history but is interpreted as a universal principle of a ‘devout’ and ‘pious’ Muslim who keeps the Prophet’s Sunna ( I have also dealt with the issue of what sunah is in a number of academic papers).
Here I am reproducing one part of a discussion from one of my papers on an exclusivist approach to inter-faith by an Islamic group I term Neo-Traditional Salafis (NTS) which encompasses both ‘traditional’ and neo-fundamentalist approaches :
.Qur’ano-Hadithic texts on the view of the religious “other’ based upon NTS approach to interpretation of Qur’an and Sunnah
a.) Qur’anic verses
2:120
Never will the Jews or the Christians be satisfied with thee unless thou follow their form of religion. Say: "The guidance of Allah that is the (only) guidance." Wert thou to follow their desires after the knowledge which hath reached thee then wouldst thou find neither protector nor helper against Allah.
3:118
O ye who believe! Take not into your intimacy those outside your ranks; they will not fail to corrupt you. They only desire your ruin: rank hatred has already appeared from their mouths; what their hearts conceal is far worse. We have made plain to you the Signs if ye have wisdom.
5:51
O ye who believe! Take not the Jews and the Christians for your friends and protectors: they are but friends and protectors to each other. And he amongst you that turns to them (for friendship) is of them. Verily Allah guideth not a people unjust.
9: 5
But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them, an seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war); but if they repent, and establish regular prayers and practise regular charity, then open the way for them: for Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.
3:85
If anyone desires a religion other than Islam (submission to Allah., never will it be accepted of him; and in the Hereafter He will be in the ranks of those who have lost (All spiritual good).
Qur’anic exegesis has documented the context behind these verses and surahs ( chapters).[1] Broadly speaking at the time of revelation of these verses, and the larger chapters ( surah) they are embedded in, the small Muslim population residing in
In relation to the 3:85 verse , analogous what was said in relation to the changes in the semantical meanings of the words such as mu’min and muslim[8] Esack argues that while the verse in the pre-classical or early stages of Islamic thought was considered to afford salvation to groups outside the Muslim community it was much later when the exegetes had recourse to more sophisticated exegetical devices such as that of theory of abrogation (naskh) were used to “secure exclusion from salvation for the Other”.[9]
Furthermore, in the case of 9:5 its specific rather then general nature is not only based upon the contextual considerations but also grammatical ones. Namely the use of the definite article in the verse limits the content of the verse to specific tribes addressed is not to be understood as universally prescriptive and normative.[10]
b.) Ahadith
The reflection of the above context is also found many ahadith reportedly going back to the Prophet in which the emphasis on the difference between Muslims on the one side and Jews and Christians and thus the creation of a reactionary ,diachotomical identity is noticeable. Here are several examples:
Narrated Abu Hurraira, The Prophet said, "Jews and Christians do not dye their hair so you should do the opposite of what they do."[11] (Bukhari, Sahih, 7.786)
Narrated Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-‘As : Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) said, "He does not belong to us who imitates other people. Do not imitate the Jews or the Christians, for the Jews' salutation is to make a gesture with the fingers and the Christians' salutation is to make a gesture with the palms of the hands.( Tirmidhi , 4648, classified as weak).
Narrated Abu Hurraira : Suhayl ibn Abu Salih said: I went out with my father to
Narrated Abu Hurraira: The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: Religion will continue to prevail as long as people hasten to break the fast, because the Jews and the Christians delay doing so.(Abu Dawood, 2346)
Ibn 'Abbas reported: "The Messenger of Allah fasted on the day of 'Ashurah and ordered the people to fast on it. The people said: 'O Messenger of Allah, it is a day that the Jews and Christians honor.' The Prophet said, 'When the following year comes--Allah willing--we shall fast on the ninth.' The death of the Prophet came before the following year." This is recorded by Muslim and Abu Dawud. In one version the wording is: "If I remain until next year, we shall fast the ninth," meaning, the tenth. This is related by Muslim and Abu Dawud.[13]
It is not difficult to understand that , the above given verses and narrations, reportedly going back to the Prophet, if taken prima fasciae and without taking into account the above sketched historical circumstances and the background behind the Revelation would result in construction of a very negative view of the religious other which would be considered as normative. This is exactly so in the eyes of those Muslims who follow NTS interpretational model of Qur’ano-Sunnahic teachings characterised by marginalisation of contextual background on the nature , content, understanding, interpretation and objective of the above Qur’anic injunctions and hadithic texts. Additionally, the interpretational proclivity to generalise/universalise these contextually –based injunctions , which is another feature of NTS approach to interpretation of Qur’ano-Sunnahic teachings, would result in application of these verses to all Muslim ,Christian and Jewish communities living during and after the Prophet’s death. NTS atomistic or segmentalist approach to textual evidence which does not systematically consider all the textual evidence[14] on a particular theme in order to develop a coherent and holistic view alongside the taking of recourse to the principal of abrogation (naskh) as espoused by classical Islamic legal theory are also responsible for the development of this view. Additionally, the NTS hadith dependent Sunnah hermeneutic and their ahl-hadith manhaj in relation to hadith criticism render the above quoted ahadith as normative ,thus religiously binding. Thus, based on the delineating features of NTS manhaj “verses that appear to inspire intolerance and cohersion were[are] willfully misrepresented , in an attempt to overpower the essential and overarching message of the Qur’an : one of toleration.”[15]
In addition to the above there are several Qur’anic verses and a number of ahadith which , when taken out of their original context described above and applied decontextually , impact upon the view of the religious other and thus impact upon a particular type of religious identity construction vis-à-vis the religious other as they emphasise the tension and enmity that existed between Muslims and Jews and Christians during the time of the Prophet’s early Medinian community for example by invoking God’s curses on them. Here we consider several of those.
c.) Qur’anic verses:[16]
5:82
Strongest among men in enmity to the believers wilt thou fined the Jews and Pagans…
9: 29
Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His apostle nor acknowledge the religion of truth (even if they are) of the People of the Book until they pay the Jizya with willing submission and feel themselves subdued.
d.)Ahadith:
Narrated Abdullah ibn Umar: Allah's Apostle said, "You (i.e. Muslims) will fight with the Jews till some of them will hide behind stones. The stones will (betray them) saying, 'O 'Abdullah (i.e. slave of Allah)! There is a Jew hiding behind me; so kill him.(Bukhari, 4. 176)[17]
Narrated by Abdullah ibn Mulaika Aisha said that the Jews came to the Prophet and said, "As-Samu 'Alaikum" (death be on you)." 'Aisha said (to them), "(Death) be on you, and may Allah curse you and shower His wrath upon you!" The Prophet said, "Be calm, O 'Aisha! You should be kind and lenient, and beware of harshness and Fuhsh (i.e. bad words)." She said (to the Prophet), "Haven't you heard what they (Jews) have said?" He said, "Haven't you heard what I have said (to them)? I said the same to them, and my invocation against them will be accepted while theirs against me will be rejected (by Allah).( Bukhari, 8.57)
The conflictive nature of these verses and ahadith texts, again if considered from the NTS interpretational perspective[18], can have very grim implications and provide a religious foundation for a purely oppositional, conflictive Muslim identity construction vis –a-vis the religious Other. This is particularly evident in the following statement by El-Fadl who , in this context asserts,
The puritan[19] worldview is bipolar- on the one end there is Islam which represents the unadulterated good, and on the other end are non-Muslims ,who represent evil. Relying on the writings of some classical jurists ,the puritans advocate a theology known as al-wala’ wa al-bara’ ( the doctrine of loyalty and disassociation) which states it is imperative that Muslims care for ,ally them with , and befriend only Muslims. Accordingly , Muslims may ally themselves with or seek the assistance of non-Muslims only for limited and identifiable purposes. Muslims should do so only if they are weak and in need, but as soon as Muslims are able to regain their power, they must regain their superior status…The fact that non-Muslims are not Muslim is seen as a moral fault …[20]
This type of mentality and approach to Jews and Christians, for example, is promoted by a NTS scholar Albani(d.1999) who considers that Prophet forbade to initiate greetings with Jews and Christians and that Muslims should not develop genuine, human -based relationships with non-Muslims .He basis his decisions upon a complete decontextualist approach to a couple of isolated hadith including the one cited above on the authority of ‘Aisha.[21]
As such this NTS manhaj engenders a construction of a religiously exclusivist Self vis-a-vis the Religious Other.
(end of reproduced section)
This begs the question as the why the imam did not mention this aspect of the Islamic tradition that we as Muslims need to acknowledge and deal with in a methodologically sound and historically sensitive and honest manner, especially if we want to promote inter-religious understanding. Sweeping things under the carpet and pretend that they are not there is not only apologetic but also ‘politically ‘ and ‘morally incorrect. So much for the imam’s own strong criticism of and the contention that the recent efforts in inter-faith dialogue and ‘recognition and appreciation of diversity’ stemming from the ‘West’ was an exercise of ‘political correctness’ whereas in the case of Islam it was from the very beginning indigenous and inherent in the tradition itself.
In what follows I am reproducing some parts of my other writings on this issue of the “Islamic’ perspectives on religious diversity and inclusion highlighting the importance of context :
The Religious Self and the Other in the Qur’an and Sunnah: The Importance of Context
Before examining the question of the Religious Self and the Religious Other in the Qur’an and Sunnah , more needs to be said about the revelatory environment in which the revelation and the Prophet’s embodiment of revelation took place as–revelatory environment relates to the question of the identity of the Self and that of the Other, especially in the Medinan period. Not only was it primarily in Medina that Muhammad’s message—and, therefore, the Muslim identity—became more “Self-conscious,” but also the Medinan model of the Prophetic and early Muslim community is considered by many Muslims worthy of emulation in many respects, including that of the relationship with the (religious) Other. Furthermore, even a cursory examination of the Qur’anic content (and, therefore, of the Prophet’s legacy) was organically linked to this context, especially the dimension of the Qur’anic content bearing on the relationship between Muslims and the religious “Other”.[22]
Several general points need to be considered in attempting to understand, from a religious perspective, the concept of the identity of Self and Other as understood during the Prophet’s time in light of the Qur’an and the Prophet’s embodiment of it.
First, the context behind the emergence of the Prophet Muhammad’s message in 7th century Hijaz was such that it took place alongside already well-established religious communities, most important of which were, apart from the pre-Qur’anic paganism, Judaism, Christianity, and Hanifiyyah.[23] The Qur’an describes several instances of the Muslim community’s attitude toward the non-Muslim Other[24] and vice-versa.
Second, the Qur’anic attitude (and Muhammad’s conduct) toward the non-Muslim Other is highly contextual in nature and, therefore, possibly ambivalent.[25]Also, during much of the Muslim community’s “formative period” in Medina, a climate of friction and hostility between the Muslims, on the one hand, and the mushrikun, large Jewish tribes, Christians,[26] and hypocrites (munafiqun), [27] on the other, prevailed, under which Muslims were constantly concerned about the survival of their community, which often took a reactionary, antagonistic stance vis-à-vis the religious Other. Watt describes the circumstances and motives behind the relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims, especially between the Prophet of Islam and the Medinan Jews:
In Muhammad’s first two years at Medina the Jews were the most dangerous critics of his claim to be a prophet, and the religious fervour of his followers, on which so much depended, was liable to be greatly reduced unless Jewish criticisms could be silenced or rendered impotent . . . . In so far as the Jews changed their attitude and ceased to be actively hostile, they were unmolested. . . .[28]
This is attested to by the Qur’an itself. The context-dependency of the scriptures toward the view of the (religious) Other (and, by implication, the religious Self) lead Waardenburg to assert that “Looking back at the interaction of the new Islamic religious movement with the existing religious communities, we are struck by the importance of socio-political factors.”[29]
Besides the sociopolitical factors, religious ideas were also significant, since the Qur’anic progressive consolidation of Islamic religious identity is inextricably linked with the religious identity of the Other, notably of Jews and Christians.[30] The aspects of religious identity’s continuity and commonality with other faiths [31] in the Qur’an are intertwined with those of the emergence of, and the emphasis on, the Muslim identity’s originality and distinctiveness.”[32] Thus, the religious aspects of, and interactions between, various religious communities in the Qur’anic milieu led to the genesis of the construction of religious identity of Muslims and played a very important role in its construction.[33]
In his study of the extent of the Prophet Muhammad’s and the Qur’an’s emphasis on confessional distinctiveness, Donner has demonstrated that, in the Islamic scripture and in early Islam, “ the community of Believers was originally conceptualized independently of confessional identities,” and that
It was only late—apparently during the third quarter of the first century A.H., a full generation of or more after the founding of Muhammad’s community—that membership in the community of Believers came to be seen as confessional identity in itself- [check punctuation mark here; hyphen, dash, comma?] when, to use a somewhat later formulation of religious terminology, being a Believer and Muslim meant that one could not also be a Christian, say, or a Jew.[34]
Donner adduces a substantial amount of evidence to support the argument that. Qur’anically, (some) Jews and Christians would qualify as mu’minun (believers) besides the muslimun (those who submit to God).[35]
Another significant trend in the “historicity” of the development of the Muslim religious Self was the gradual but ever-growing religious self-consciousness of the Prophet of Islam and his early community. Whilst attempts to find common ground and syncretism featured more frequently during the earlier periods of Muhammad’s life,[36]later periods stressed “features constituting specific identity and what distinguished one [i.e. Muslims] fundamentally from others.”[37] Miraly asserts that “Whereas pluralism was an essential foundation of Islam, exclusivism was a later addition. In the centuries following the Revelation, the original pluralist impulse that prompted the Constitution of Medina was usurped by politically motivated factions who propounded exclusivist interpretations of the Qur’an in order to justify warfare and territorial expansion.”[38] Similarly, writing about the context of the early Muslim view of the Byzantines in the days of Prophet Muhammad,Shboul echoes this observation by saying that the attitudes of the Muslims developed from sympathy and affinity, reflected in the early Qur’anic verses, to awe and apprehension of Byzantium’s military power, scorn of Byzantine wealth and luxury, and, finally, anticipation of open antagonism and prolonged warfare.[39]
Jews and Christians were eventually recognized by Islam as recipients of previous revelations (Ahl-Kitab) and were awarded by it the status of protected/secured minorities (dhimmis).
Another point to be considered in relation to the question under examination is the Qur’anic concept of a hanif/millat Ibrahim.[40] Qur’anically, this notion may be called the primordial, monotheistic Urreligion based on the belief in the One, True God as embodied in Abraham’s message (Arabic millat Ibrahim) considered as the universal belief system and as potentially the final evolution in Muhammad’s attitude towards the religious Self and the Other.][41]It is, however, unclear, whether the Prophet of Islam himself identified “historical Islam” “as the only or merely one possible realisation of the primordial religion, the Hanifiyyah, on earth.”[42]
Lastly, an “Islamocentric view” of Muslim perceptions of the religious Other stems from a certain interpretation of the Qur’ano-Sunnatic teachings. This view is based upon the premise that the Qur’an is a source of empirical knowledge of the religious Other that is to be applied universally, ahistorically and without regard to context.[43]
(end of second reproduced section)
It is important to keep in mind that this apologetic approach is not restricted to issues of inter-faithonly but is particularly evident in relation to the question of the role and the status of women in Islam.
Namely, based on this very apologetic approach that champions the rights pre-modern ‘Islam’ (it is worthwhile pointing in this respect that early as well as pre-modern Muslim scholarship, unlike the bulk of contemporary Islamic thought did not frame the issues within the framework of whether s.th. is “Islamic’ or not but to what extent and on what methodology could one argue that s.th. is Qur’anic and the Sunnaic -and later referred it to the opinions of early Muslim authorities such as the eponyms of the various madhahib) ‘gave’ to women 1400 years ago, Muslim women are denied a number of political ( eg. Voting, being elected to highest political office, being a judge ) , legal ( eg. Custody over children, unfair –to the detriment of the female- divorce and marriage laws) as well as the basic freedom such as freedom of movement ( e.g. husband can prevent his wife from even visiting her parents or attending their funeral prayer!). Now there is no doubt that the laws the Qur’an and Sunnah ,and to some extent that of the pre-modern Islamic jurisprudence ushered were ‘progressive’ given the historical era and the historical background within which they operated, these rights ‘islam’ gave to women , were not seen as embedded in and inextricably linked to the moral universe and ‘logic’ of what I refer to as extreme gender role differentiation in a pre-modern androcentric and patriarchal society. This ‘logic’ of extreme gender role differentiation permanently fixes and universalises the socio-culturally, legally and politically contingent conceptions of gender and gender difference clearly evident in pre-modern Islamic jurisprudence and their attendant socio-cultural and legal implications. According to one aspect of this ‘logic’ women have certain ‘character traits’ and ‘emotional predispositions’ which are used to curtail their above mentioned rights.
If we as Muslims ( people of other religious traditions are also not immune to this) wish to engage in inter-faith dialogue in an authentic way rather then in an apologetic manner , we have a moral responsibility to deal with all of the aspects of our inherited tradition ,the good ,the bad and the ugly if we are to enhance and appreciate our understanding of our own tradition as well as that of the other. Only and only in this way are we going to be meaningfully engaged and ready to be transformed through and by the Other for the better.
[1] See for example, K.Armstrong,Islam: A Short History.New York,Modern library,2002.Also Her , Muhammad: A Western Attempt to Understand Islam.London,Victor Gollancz,1991.;or Watt, Muhammad in Madina,op.cit.
[2] Miraly, Ethic of Pluralism,p.47.
[3] Verily, this brotherhood of yours is a single brotherhood, and I am your Lord and Cherisher: therefore serve Me (and no other).(21:92)
[4] Miraly,Ethic of Pluralism,p.59.
[5] Armstrong,Muhammad,pp.183-184.
[6] Miraly, Ethic of Pluralism,p.62.
[7] Armstrong,Muhammad,p.207.
[8] see footnote 15.
[9] Esack,Qur’an,Liberation and pluralism, p.163.
[10] Miraly,The Ethic of Pluralism,p.39.
[11] ‘Alim for Windows , M. Bukhari, Sahih, volume 7, no.786.
[12] Ibid. Abu Dawud, cf. Muslim-Sahih, 5389- Narrated Abu Hurraira -Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) said: Do not greet the Jews and the Christians before they greet you and when you meet any one of them on the roads force him to go to the narrowest part of it.
[13] There are several more hadith of this genre for example found in Abu Dawood, hadith number 652 and 4185.
[14] Such as religiously inclusivist Qur
[15] Miraly,The Ethic of Pluralism,p.35.
[16] In this part of the analysis we have not included verses (such as 4:76, 9:5;9:73, 47:4 ,48:29) which address the kafirun not ahl-Kitab, however, as we shall see, in several instances ahl-Kitab are also linked to the root of K-F-R and according to the methodology of NTS could be and are bring applied to Ahl-Kitab including those of today.
[17] cf. Bukhari, 4.791, same narrator - heard Allah's Apostle saying, "The Jews will fight with you, and you will be given victory over them so that a stone will say, 'O Muslim! There is a Jew behind me; kill him!' “; cf. Muslim, Sahih, 6985 –Narrated Abu Hurraira -Allah's Apostle (peace be upon him) said: The Last Hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews.
[18] For an interpretation of these and similar hadith from a PM perspective see A.Noth, ‘Problems of Differentiation between Muslim and Non-Muslims :Re-reading the “Ordinances of Umar” ( Al-Shurut Al’Umariyya), in R. Hoyland (ed.) Muslims and Others in Early Islamic Society, Ashgate Variorum,2004,pp.103-125.
[19] Using our terminology NTS, for definition of puritans, see El- Fadl, The Great Theft- Wrestling Islam from the Extremists, Harper Collins, 2005, pp.16-25.
[20] El-Fadl, The Great Theft, p.206.
[21] N.Albani, ‘Responding to Salaams of the Jews and the Christians’, at www.bakkah.net, accessed on 15th of October,2007.
[22]For more on this in relation to the concept of “the ethic of pluralism” in the Qur’an see Miraly.
[23]Explained later in this section.
[24]I.e., the mushrikun (“polytheists”), the munafiqun (“hypocrites”), and Ahl-Kitab (“the People of the Book”—primarily, Jews and Christians). For a lucid discussion of this issue, see Donner; also, Maghen. Donner writes (267-268): “Islam’s relationship with the People of the Book has had its ups and downs. The growing familiarity of the inhabitants of the Arabian Penninsula with the ideas, institutions and the communities of the surrounding monotheisms followed by the initial and increasingly intense encounters of the nascent Muslim umma with the same, bred the complex mixture of attitudes to Judaism, Christianity and Zoroastrianism discernable through the classical literature of the faith. The seminal texts and genres—the Qur’an, Hadith, Tafsir, Sharh and fiqh—evince a multifaceted and pendulating posture vis-à-vis the religio-cultural “other” that partakes more of dialectic than dogma.”
[25]Ambivalence and contextuality are also found in non-Qur’anic elements of the tradition as embodied in various Hadith corpora. On Qur’anic ambivalence in relation to the “Other,” see Maghen, 268.
[26]The Christians had a much smaller numerical presence in
[27]A group of people in
[28]Watt, Muhammad at
[29]Waardenburg, Muslims and Others, 99.; cf. Waardenburg, “World Religions as Seen in the light of Islam,” 245-276.
[30]Zebiri, chapter 1. Also, Donner, “From Believers to Muslims.”
[31]Such as belief in Allah (One, True God), the previous prophets, the Hereafter, the Day of Judgment.
[32]The latter trend being more prominent in the context of Medinan Muslim community.
[33]Zebiri, chapter 1.
[34]Donner, “From Believers to Muslims,” 12; cf.Maghen, 268-269.
[35]Donner, “From Believers to Muslims,” 17-24, 28-34; cf. Miraly.
[36]Such as the importance of
[37]Waardenburg, Muslims and Others, 44. A case in point is that of the change of direction in prayer from
[38]Miraly, 33.
[39]Shboul, 242.
[40]For more details, see Beck.
[41]Waardenburg, Muslims and Others, 87-94.
[42]Ibid., 106-107; also, Qur’anic verses, such as 5:48, seem to present the existence of religious plurality as a manifestation of God’s Will.
[43]In other words, Qur’anic criticisms of certain practices of Jewish and Christian communities living in 7th-century Hijaz apply to all previous and subsequent Jewish and Christian communities in an ahistorical, uncontextualized manner.
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