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Theology
Muslim Studies

Islam, Muslims, and Religious Pluralism: Concepts, Scope and Limits

Profile image of Mohammed HashasMohammed Hashas

2021, Pluralism in Islamic Contexts: Ethics, Politics and Modern Challenges (Springer, Philosophy and Politics - Critical Explorations, 2021), 1-32.

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66089-5_1
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Abstract

Abstract This paper overviews the meanings of especially religious pluralism in the Islamic intellectual and political tradition, past and present, with reference to some major scholarly works in tafsīr, theology, and philosophy. First, before high- lighting the importance of pluralism in modern studies of religion, from both his- torical and theological perspectives, brief reference to some classical “Islamic” texts on inter-and-intra comparative religions will be mentioned, not only to show that comparative religions and religious pluralism as scholarly disciplines are not inexistent in the tradition, but most importantly to show that religious pluralism could flourish in premodern times even when the episteme was dominantly “reli- gious” - to use the terms here with reservations. The point here is that the plurality of interpreting one tradition, and the neutral or biased interpretations of other tradi- tions, is a confirmation of religious pluralism, however problematic this confirma- tion might be in the political or theological spheres. Second, with reference to a few recent works in the field of “Islamic” intellectual history, tentative definitions on what Islam, Islamic, plurality, pluralism, and pluralization mean will be introduced. Third, examples of how pluralism is examined in contemporary Islamic thought are provided. Keywords Pluralism · Religious pluralism · Plurality · Pluralization · Inclusivism · Exclusivism · Cumulative tradition · Muslim world · Islamic world

Key takeaways
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  1. Religious pluralism has historical roots in Islamic scholarship, as evidenced by classical texts.
  2. The paper defines key concepts like Islam, plurality, and pluralization relevant to contemporary discourse.
  3. Modern challenges to Islamic pluralism are influenced by political, cultural, and socio-economic factors.
  4. Examples from Islamic history illustrate the coexistence of diverse religious perspectives within the tradition.
  5. The text aims to contribute to religious studies scholarship by examining pluralism in Islamic contexts.

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