Encyclopedia of Islam

dhimmi

  

195  J

---

putative Islamic state, thereby emptying dhimmi

status of any real meaning.

See also  c

hristianity

 

and

  i

slam

; 

dar

 

al

-i

slam

and

 

dar

 

al

-

harb

; e

migrants

; h

indUism

 

and

 i

slam

; 

J

Udaism

 

and

 i

slam

.

Further reading: Khaled Abou El Fadl, “Islamic Law 

and Muslim Minorities: The Juristic Discourse on 

Muslim Minorities from the Second/Eighth to the Elev-

enth/Seventeenth Centuries,” Islamic Law and Society

1 (1994): 141–187; Patricia Crone, God’s Rule (New 

York: Columbia University Press, 2004), 358—392; S. 

D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society, 6 vols. (Berkeley: 

University of California Press, 1967–1993).

Dhu al-Qarnayn

  See a

lexander

 

the

 g

reat

.

dialogue

Interreligious (or interfaith) dialogue is a form of 

positive interaction between known followers of 

different religious traditions or different denomi-

nations and sects within a single religious tradition. 

It is done on different levels, from the individual 

and local to the institutional and global. Dialogue 

topics include 

theology

, worship, ethics, inter-

faith relations, and worldly issues. The goals of 

dialogue can vary, but they often involve efforts 

to achieve mutual understanding and tolerance, 

identify shared values, establish interfaith bonds, 

overcome prejudice and religious fanaticism, and, 

perhaps most importantly, avert conflict or foster 

healing where conflict has occurred. Dialogue 

may also result in a reexamination of one’s own 

religious convictions. One thing dialogue does 

not intend to do is convert people from one reli-

gion or one denomination to another, nor does 

it seek to create a new religion. Muslim leaders 

and organizations engage in dialogue with non-

Muslims, including Christians, Jews, Hindus, and 

Buddhists. There have also been some efforts to 

promote mutual understanding among Sunni and 

Shii Muslims.

Muslims have been in close contact with 

people belonging to other religions for all 

of their history, beginning with m

Uhammad

’s 

encounters with polytheists and Jews in m

ecca

and  m

edina

 in the seventh century. There is 

substantial evidence for exchanges and discus-

sions between Muslims, Christians, and Jews 

in the first centuries of Islamic history in s

yria

, 

i

raq

 and e

gypt

. These exchanges have left their 

imprint on Islamic religious tradition, philoso-

phy, the sciences, and monumental architecture. 

They also enriched religious and cultural life in 

medieval  a

ndalUsia

. Figures such as 

al

-b

irUni

(d. 1048), a

kbar

 (d. 1605), and d

ara

 s

hikoh

 (d. 

1659) are remembered for their learned engage-

ment with Hindu pundits and representatives 

of other religious communities in i

ndia

. On the 

other hand, conservative religious authorities, 

Muslims and non-Muslims, wrote polemical 

literature refuting the religious claims of other 

religions. Muslim rulers employed non-Muslims 

in the courts as ministers and physicians, which 

is how the great Jewish philosopher Maimonides 

(d. 1204) made his living in Egypt. Non-Mus-

lims were legally protected subjects (

dhimmi

s) 

under the 

sharia

, but they held subordinate 

status and periodically fell victim to Muslim 

tyrannical rulers.

Continuing interfaith dialogue activities by 

organized religious associations, whereby all 

participants had relatively equal footing, did 

not really begin to develop until the early 20th 

century, with the onset of a new ecumenical 

spirit in the West. The 1893 Parliament of World 

Religions in Chicago signaled new, more tolerant 

attitudes among some Christian churches toward 

non-Christians. The parliament included at least 

two people who represented the “Mohammedan” 

faith (Islam). Major Christian churches began to 

consider interreligious communication to be a 

more valued goal than conversion. They also had 

the benefit of more accurate knowledge about 

Islamic beliefs and history, thanks to the efforts 

of European and American scholars, the Orien-

K  196  

Dhu al-Qarnayn

---

talists. Muslims, for their part, were reluctant to 

participate in interreligious dialogues for sev-

eral reasons. Language posed a barrier initially, 

because most Muslim religious authorities were 

not conversant in the European languages. Many 

thought dialogue might be a disguised mission-

ary effort by European Christian churches, and 

they were wary of connections between their 

conversation partners and the European colo-

nial powers that had occupied their countries. 

However, the creation of new nation-states in the 

20th century, growing knowledge of European 

languages and cultures, and increased global 

travel, immigration, and communication helped 

overcome these barriers. Since the 1960s, cata-

strophic violence in the Middle East and attacks 

by Muslim radicals in Europe and the United 

States, especially the September 11th assaults in 

2001, have also provided incentives for Muslims 

to engage more actively in dialogue with non-

Muslims.

The World Council of Churches and the 

Roman Catholic Church began to actively embrace 

interreligious dialogue in the 1950s and 1960s. 

They organized international and regional con-

ferences and published books and papers that 

promoted dialogue among Christians, Jews, and 

Muslims. Joined by countless other organiza-

tions on local and global levels, they continue 

to promote interreligious dialogue today. Their 

efforts have prompted Islamic organizations such 

as the m

Uslim

 W

orld

  l

eagUe

 and the W

orld

m

Uslim

  c

ongress

  to participate in and sponsor 

similar activities, beginning in the 1980s and 

1990s. Dialogue among Jews, Christians, and 

Muslims has been further enriched by a growing 

recognition that more than being monotheistic 

religions, they are Abrahamic, which emphasizes 

a common religiocultural heritage as “children 

of Abraham,” the ancestral biblical figure who is 

also highly esteemed by Muslims. Muslim-Jewish 

dialogue, however, has been negatively affected by 

the ongoing violence in Israel-Palestine, but this 

conflict has made the need for such dialogue even 

more urgent. As a consequence, leading Muslim 

and Jewish organizations in the United States 

are making concerted efforts to sponsor dialogue 

activities, often with the encouragement and sup-

port of Christian groups.

Interreligious dialogue is also occurring on 

college and university campuses in the United 

States and Europe, helping to build friendships, 

mutual understanding, and acceptance among 

Muslims, Jews, Christians, and secularists. Pro-

gressive Muslim scholars raised and educated 

in Europe and the United States such as Tariq 

Ramadan (b. 1962) and k

haled

  a

boU

 

el

 F

adl

(b. 1963) represent a significant new force that 

is contributing to greater understanding between 

Muslims and non-Muslims. On a global scale, 

another noteworthy development is the forma-

tion of groups promoting dialogue, tolerance, and 

understanding that have been inspired by Sufi 

ideals. These include the Naqshbandi-Haqqani 

Sufi Order and followers of the modern Turk-

ish thinker F

ethUllah

  g

ülen

  (b. 1941). These 

groups have strong followings among young 

people, many of whom are college educated and 

cosmopolitan in outlook.

See also b

Uddhism

 

and

 i

slam

; c

hristianity

 

and

i

slam

;  c

oUncil

 

on

  a

merican

-i

slamic

  r

elations

; 

dhimmi

; 

al

-h

aqqani

, m

Uhammad

 n

azim

; h

indUism

and

  i

slam

; J

Udaism

 

and

  i

slam

;  m

ohammedanism

; 

m

Uslim

 p

Ublic

 a

FFairs

 c

oUncil

.