Islam and other religions is the complex theological, legal, and historical relationship between Islam and other faith traditions. Over the centuries of Islamic history, Muslims have held many different attitudes towards other religions. Some Muslim-majority countries are open to freedom of religion, but some are not. The Qur'an prescribes that the People of the Book – i.e., Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians – have a special status.
Al-Baqara 256
Non-Muslims and Islam The Qur'an distinguishes between the monotheistic People of the Book (), i.e., Jews, Christians, Sabians and others on the one hand and polytheists or idolaters on the other hand. There are certain kinds of restrictions that apply to polytheists but not to "People of the Book" in classical Islamic law. One example is that Muslim males are allowed to marry a Christian or Jew, but not a polytheist. Muslim women, however, may not marry non-Muslim men.Friedmann (2003), p. 35
The Quran told Muslims to discuss the common points between Muslims and non-Muslims. It directs Muslims not to fight with people of the Book.
The idea of Islamic infallibility is encapsulated in the formula, "Islam is exalted and nothing is exalted above it."
Abraham, Moses, Hebrew prophets, and Jesus were all prophets of Islam, but according to Muslim tradition their message and the texts of the Torah and the Gospels were corrupted.Friedmann (2003), p. 18
Apostasy in Islam can be punishable by death and/or imprisonment, according to some interpretations. Still, they are only found in hadiths and there is nothing in the Quran that commands the death penalty for apostasy, so the issue of apostasy is controversial."Murtadd", Encyclopedia of Islam Quote: "A woman who apostasizes [sic?] is to be executed according to some jurists, or imprisoned according to others." W. Heffening states that Shafi'is interpret verse as adducing the main evidence for the death penalty in the Qur'an.W. Heffening, in Encyclopedia of Islam Wael Hallaq states the death penalty was a new element added later and "reflects a later reality and does not stand in accord with the deeds of the Prophet." He further states that "nothing in the law governing apostate and apostasy derives from the letter of the holy text."Encyclopedia of the Quran, Apostasy There are also interpretations according to which apostates are not executed or punished, and there is freedom of religion.
In the 7th-century text Concerning Heresy, the Christian scholar John of Damascus named Islam as Christological heresy, referring to it as the "heresy of the Ishmaelites". The position has remained popular in Christian circles well into the 20th century, by theologians such as the Congregationalist cleric Frank Hugh Foster and the Roman Catholic historian Hilaire Belloc, the latter of whom described it as "the great and enduring heresy of Mohammed."
Early Muslim practice Some Jews generally rejected Muhammad's status as a prophet.Esposito, John. 1998. Islam: the Straight Path, extended edition. Oxford university press, p.17 According to Watt, "Jews would normally be unwilling to admit that a non-Jew could be a prophet."The Cambridge History of Islam, pp. 43-44 In the Constitution of Medina, Muhammad demanded the Jews' political loyalty in return for religious and cultural autonomy.Jacob Neusner, God's Rule: The Politics of World Religions, p. 153, Georgetown University Press, 2003, In every major battle with the Medinans, two local Jewish tribes were found to be treacherous (see ). After Badr and Uhud, the Banu Qainuqa and Banu Nadir (the latter being an ethnic Arab tribe who converted to Judaism, according to the Muslim historian al-Yaqubi), respectively, took up arms against the ummah and were subsequently expelled "with their families and possessions" from Medina.Esposito, Islam: the straight path, extended edition, Oxford University Press, pp. 10-11
The Syriac Patriarch Ishôyahb III wrote in his correspondence to Simeon of Rewardashir, "As for the Arabs, to whom God has at this time given rule (shultãnâ) over the world, you know well how they act toward us. Not only do they not oppose Christianity, but they praise our faith, honour the priests and saints of our Lord, and give aid to the churches and monasteries."Sidney H. Griffith: Disputing with Islam in Syriac
After Muhammad's death in 632, Islamic rule grew rapidly, encompassing what is now the Middle East, Egypt, North Africa, and Iran. Most of the new subjects were Christian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian, the first two being considered People of the Book. (After some argument, the Zoroastrians were considered People of the Book as well.)Zoroaster and Zoroastrians in Iran , by Massoume Price, Iran Chamber Society, retrieved March 24, 2006
Later Islamic practices
Later Islamic conquests
From historical evidence, it appears Tokharistan was the only area of Iran heavily colonized by Arabs, where Buddhism flourished when they arrived and the only area incorporated into the Arab empire where Sanskrit studies were pursued up to the conquest. The grandson of Barmak was the vizier of the empire and took a personal interest in Sanskrit works and Indian religions. When the Barmakids were removed from power and their influence disappeared, no further translations of Sanskrit works into Arabic are known until that of Al-Biruni.
Comparative religion and anthropology of religion After the Arab conquest of the Buddhist center of Balkh, a Quranic commentator was denounced for anthropomorphism, a standard attack on those sympathetic to Buddhism. Hiwi al-Balkhi had attacked the authority of the Quran and revealed religions, reciting the claims of Zoroastrianism, Christianity and Judaism.
In the early 11th century, the Islamic scholar Abū Rayhān Bīrūnī wrote detailed comparative studies on the anthropology of religions across the Middle East, Mediterranean and especially the Indian subcontinent. Biruni's anthropology of religion was only possible for a scholar deeply immersed in the lore of other nations.J. T. Walbridge (1998). "Explaining Away the Greek Gods in Islam", Journal of the History of Ideas 59 (3): 389-403
According to Arthur Jeffery, "It is rare until modern times to find so fair and unprejudiced a statement of the views of other religions, so earnest an attempt to study them in the best sources, and such care to find a method which for this branch of study would be both rigorous and just." Biruni compared Islam with pre-Islamic religions, and was willing to accept certain elements of pre-Islamic wisdom that conformed with his understanding of the Islamic spirit.Seyyed Hossein Nasr (1993), An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines, p. 166, State University of New York Press,
In the introduction to his Indica, Biruni himself writes that his intent behind the work was to engage dialogue between Islam and the Indian religions, particularly Hinduism as well as Buddhism. Biruni was aware that statements about a religion would be open to criticism by its adherents, and insisted that a scholar should follow the requirements of a strictly scientific method. According to William Montgomery Watt, Biruni "is admirably objective and unprejudiced in his presentation of facts" but "selects facts in such a way that he makes a strong case for holding that there is a certain unity in the religious experience of the peoples he considers, even though he does not appear to formulate this view explicitly." Biruni argued that Hinduism was a monotheistic faith like Islam, and in order to justify this assertion, he quotes Hindu texts and argues that the worship of idols is "exclusively a characteristic of the common people, with which the educated have nothing to do."
Biruni argued that the worship of idols "is due to a kind of confusion or corruption." According to Watt, Biruni "goes on to maintain that in the course of generations the origin of the veneration of the images is forgotten, and further that the ancient legislators, seeing that the Veneration of images is advantageous, made it obligatory for the ordinary. He mentions the view of some people that, before God sent prophets, all mankind were idol-worshippers, but he apparently does not presumably held that, apart from the messages transmitted by prophets, men could know the existence and unity of God by rational methods of philosophy." Biruni argued that "the Hindus, no less than the Greeks, have philosophers who are believers in monotheism." Al-Biruni also compared Islam and Christianity, citing passages from the Qur'an and the Bible which state that their followers should always speak the truth.
Contemporary Islam
Some countries are predominantly Muslim and allow freedom of religion, adhering to democratic principles. Of particular note are the following countries:Bangladesh Official Government Holidays 2001 , bicn, 2002, retrieved March 25, 2006 Indonesia and Malaysia have a significant population from the Hindu, Christian and Buddhist religions. In Syria, there are about 2.2 million Christians (10–12% of the population) from about 15 different religious and ethnic sects (Greek Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox, Church of the East, Protestants, Armenians Apostolic and various Catholics, Greek, Syrian, Armenian, Chaldean, Maronite, Latin), as well as a few dozen Jews. They have many hundreds of independent privately owned churches and some 15 synagogues. The freedom of religion is well observed by the state law and reflected in the country's long historical record of tolerance since the Umayyad Caliphate days. Christmas and Easter are official holidays for both the Catholic and Orthodox calendar. Pakistan has different electorates for Muslims and non-Muslims, and also two chief justices of the Supreme Court of Pakistan were Hindu and Christian after the formation of the country.
Other Islamic nations are not so tolerant of minority religions:
The constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran recognizes Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism as People of the Book and official religions, and they are granted the right to exercise religious freedom in Iran. Five of the 270 seats in parliament are reserved for these three religions. However, the situation of the followers of the Bahá'í Faith, the largest religious minority in the country, is far worse. State-sanctioned persecution of Bahá'ís allows them to be attacked and dehumanized on political, religious, and social grounds to separate Bahá'ís from the rest of society. According to Eliz Sanasarian, "Of all non-Muslim religious minorities the persecution of the Bahá'ís has been the most widespread, systematic, and uninterrupted." See Religion in Iran and Persecution of Bahá'ís. Also, senior government posts are reserved for Muslims. All minority religious groups are barred from being elected president. Jewish, Christian and Zoroastrian schools must be run by Muslim principals.Wright, The Last Great Revolution, (2000), p.210 Compensation for death paid to the family of a non-Muslim was (by law) less than if the victim was a Muslim. Conversion to Islam is encouraged by entitling converts to inherit the entire share of their parents' (or even uncle's) estate if their siblings (or cousins) remain non-Muslim.Wright, The Last Great Revolution, (2000), p.216 Iran's non-Muslim population has fallen dramatically. For example, the Jewish population in Iran dropped from 80,000 to 30,000 in the first two decades of the revolution.Wright, The Last Great Revolution, (2000), p.207