Muslim Attitudes to Christian Ritual and Practice

Abstract

Muslim attitudes to Christian ritual and practice vary according to context. No single attitude can be identified. Christian attitudes to Muslim ritual also vary. Muslim attitudes are informed by Qur’anic verses, by hadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad) and by other traditions including covenants between Muhammad and various Christians. Christian attitudes toward Muslim ritual are mainly informed by theological understandings of religions other than the Christian since, while the Qur’an has explicit references to Christians and to Christianity, the Bible does not explicitly refer to Islam although some passages may be applied to Islam. This chapter shows that positive Christian views of Muslim worship tend to be more recent than negative ones. It will also be seen that Muslim views are influenced by how much weight is given to those Qur’anic passages known as “verses of friendship” as opposed to those known as “verses of hostility.” In this chapter, positive refers to views that regard the worship offered by practitioners of the other religion as valid, while negative refers to views that regard this as false or futile.