Islam and other religions

thumb|World Muslim population by percentage ([[Pew Research Center, 2014).]]

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.

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."

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. W. Heffening states that Shafi'is interpret verse as adducing the main evidence for the death penalty in the Qur'an. 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." There are also interpretations according to which apostates are not executed nor 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. According to Watt, "Jews would normally be unwilling to admit that a non-Jew could be a prophet." In the Constitution of Medina, Muhammad demanded the Jews' political loyalty in return for religious and cultural autonomy. 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.

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."

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.)

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 is 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.

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.

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.

Contemporary Islam

Some countries are predominantly Muslim and allow freedom of religion, adhering to democratic principles. Of particular note are the following countries:

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, and they have many hundreds of independent privately owned churches and some 15 synagogues. The freedom of religion is well observed by the state law as well as the long historical record of tolerance since the Umayyad caliph days. Christmas and Easter are official holidays for both the Catholic or 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." 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. 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.
In Egypt, a 16 December 2006 judgement of the Supreme Administrative Council created a clear demarcation between "recognized religions"—Islam, Christianity and Judaism—and all other religious beliefs; the ruling effectively delegitimizes and forbids the practice of all but these aforementioned religions. The ruling leaves members of other religious communities, including Bahá'ís, without the ability to obtain the necessary government documents to have rights in their country, essentially denying them all rights of citizenship. They cannot obtain ID cards (resulting in the Egyptian identification card controversy), birth certificates, death certificates, marriage or divorce certificates, and passports; they also cannot be employed, educated, treated in public hospitals or vote among other things.

Islamic views on religious pluralism

Surah Al-Ma'idah verse 48 states:

Surah Al-Ankabut verse 46 states:

The Quran criticizes Christians and Jews who believed that their own religions are the only source of truth:

Surah Al-Baqara verse 113 states:

Surah 3 verse 64 states:

Islam's fundamental theological concept is the belief in one God. Muslims are not expected to visualize God but to worship and adore him as a protector. Any kind of idolatry is condemned in Islam. ()

Muslims believe that Allah sent the Qur'an to bring peace and harmony to humanity through Islam (submission to Allah). Religious persecution is also prohibited.

Various sects became intolerant when gaining favour with the rulers, and often work to oppress or eliminate rival sects, for example, the contemporary persecution of Muslim minorities in Saudi Arabia.

Views on forms of worship in other religions

The 14th century Sufi saint Abd al-Karim al-Jili stated that all principal religions actually worship Allah in their own way:

The Infidels; they disbelieve in a lord, because they worship the essence of God which reflects there is no lord over him.
The Physicists; worshipping the natural properties, which are actually attributes of God.
The Philosophers; worshipping the seven planets, which represents further names of God.
The Dualists; worshipping God as the Creator and the One.
The Magians; worship God in the names of Unity in which all names and attributes past just as fire destroys and transmutes them in their nature.
The Materialists; denying a creator and instead believe in the eternity of Time. Thus they just believe in his He-ness, in which God is just potentially but not actually creative.
The Jews.
The Sabians (Mandaeans).
The Christians.
The Muslims.

Although there are different ways to worship God, those who do not worship like it was ordinated by a prophet will suffer in the afterlife. This suffering causes pleasure, because they feel spiritual delight in the way of their worship until they repent and take refuge in God.

The Sunni scholar and mystic Mahmoud Shabestari holds that every religion is in some way worshipping Allah. Even idol-worshippers actually would unconsciously worship him.

Forced conversion

The Quran Al-Baqara 256 says, "Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from Error" ( and ).

Quranic translator M. A. S. Abdel Haleem wrote of the Sword Verse, verse 9:5 of At-Tawba 5: "In this context, this definitely refers to the ones who broke the treaty" between Muslims and a group of idolaters during the time of Muhammad.

According to historian Bernard Lewis, forced conversions played a role, especially in the 12th century under the Almohad dynasty of North Africa and Andalusia. He is also of the opinion that other incidents of forced conversions have been rare in Islamic history. He adds that "In the early centuries of Islamic rule, there was little or no attempt at forcible conversion, the spread of the faith being effected rather by persuasion and inducement." A few well-known examples of forced conversion are:

Francis Bok—Sudanese-American activist, from Christianity; later returned to his Christian faith.
Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig—forced to convert at gunpoint by terrorists of the Holy Jihad Brigades.
Sabbatai Zevi—convert from Judaism, 17th-century mystic, pseudo-Messiah and the self-proclaimed "King of Jews." Converted ostensibly of his own free will, while in prison. Although some speculate that he may have been executed for treason had he not converted. Muslim authorities were opposed to his death.