Islam and Pluralism

Abstract

Is religious pluralism possible in Islam? This question is theoretically and historically easy to answer affirmatively. But in perception seen as reality, it is anything but simple to answer at all. Contemporary attitudes toward and portrayals of Muslims confuse the debate even further. Attempts to provide legitimate answers in a nuanced manner are usually considered apologetics and thus dismissed. Yet the case must be made that the Islamic worldview on religion and humanity assumes religious pluralism. Anybody periodically engaged in interfaith dialogue or public lectures on Islam must have heard this question by now. While most are genuinely interested in knowing the true answer, some have already made their minds up about Islam’s inability to tolerate other religions. Perhaps one of the effective answers came through Bill Moyers’ 1990 interview with Seyyed Hossein Nasr.1 That Nasr answered affirmatively with authority and eloquence cannot be denied; however, that few Americans heard his answer is confirmed by the persistence of this question twenty years later. Significantly, that even fewer would have believed him is proven by the troublesome rhetoric of the current rising Islamophobia. Moyers’s questions included the following: “By the nature of its theology, its own principle of unity, … can Islam coexist with [a] non-Muslim [world]?”; “Do Muslims envision a world dominated by Islam?”; “One does not see pluralism and tolerance?”; “Can you [Muslims] tolerate [an] infidel?”2 Nasr responded by affirming coexistence, pluralism, and tolerance and rejecting any notion of Muslim world domination. This editorial analyzes “Islam and pluralism.” But to understand the Muslims’ response, one must accept some basic facts: Muslim extremists, who have always existed, do not truly and legitimately represent Islam by their actions or pronouncement ...