Advancing Religious Pluralism in Islam

Abstract

AbstractPluralism in the context of religion suggests both diversity of interpretation of the foundational sources of that tradition and relativity implied in such plurality of hermeneutics. At this time, a number of Muslim scholars writing from traditional centers of Islamic learning in the Middle East are resisting the implications of pluralistic discourse on religion. There is a deep‐seated fear of secularly inspired relativism about religious truth that, according to these scholars, belief in pluralism might destabilize the authority of revelation as well as the tradition that has determined the authenticity of its foundational sources and the praxis for the faith community. It is important to bear in mind that this traditional defensive discourse against pluralism has nothing to do with the recognition of peaceful interfaith relations as the cornerstone of contemporary pluralistic political and social order. In fact, the growing interest in minority jurisprudence (fiqh ) in a number of traditional centers indicates the acknowledgement, though not whole‐hearted acceptance, of the reality of the modern world in which plurality of religious traditions has been recognized as a major principle of co‐existence. However, this does not necessarily mean that pluralism has been acknowledged as an epistemic source of critical reassessment of Islamic theological and metaphysical notions for a new inclusive political theology.