The Place of Tolerance in Islam

We suddenly find ourselves with very little knowledge of a religion and culture that continues to have an enormous impact on our world. Through a close reading of the Qur'an, Khaled Abou El Fadl shows that injunctions to violence against nonbelievers stem from misreadings. Even jihad, or so-called holy war, has no basis in Qur'anic text or Muslim theology, but instead was an outgrowth of social and political conflict.Reading the holy text in the appropriate moral and historical contexts shows that Islamic civilization has long been pluralistic, and even usually tolerant of other religions. Leading scholars of Islam offer nuanced commentary.

Khaled Abou El Fadl is the Omar and Azmeralda Alfi Distinguished Fellow in Islamic Law at UCLA and author of Rebellion and Violence in Islamic Law.

Contents

Editors’ Preface by Joshua Cohen and Ian Lague

1

Khaled Abou El Fadl: The Place of Tolerance in Islam

2

Milton Viorst: Puritanism and Stagnation

Sohail H. Hashmi: A Conservative Legacy

Tariq Ali: Theological Distractions

Abid Ullah Jan: The Limits of Tolerance

Stanley Kurtz: Text and Context

Amina Wadud: Beyond Interpretation

Akeel Bilgrami: The Importance of Democracy

Mashhood Rizvi: Intolerable Injustices

John L. Esposito: Struggle in Islam

Qamar-ul Huda: Plural Traditions

R. Scott Appleby: The Quandary of Leadership

3

Khaled Abou El Fadl: Reply

Notes

About the Contributors