NATURE AND PERIMETERS OF RELATIONS WITH NON-MUSLIMS IN ISLAM

Abstract

Now the world has become a global village where no people or nation can live in isolation from and unconcerned to what goes on elsewhere. Our world is so inter-reliant and so interconnected that peaceful discourse has become an imperious. In spite of the general erosion of pledge to “religion,” however interpreted or misapprehended, religion still plays a vital role in shaping people’s attitudes and influencing their conduct. In spite of serious examples of abuse of several religions by some of their claimed followers so as to vindicate or initiate acts of violence and carnage, there are optimistic and supportive common themes in these religions. Therefore, peaceful and candid intra-faith and inter-faith dialogues are significant tools in working for such goals. This paper is a humble  contribution to that dialogue from one angle within a major world religion that is the acknowledged faith of nearly one fifth of the human race; one that is more misunderstood than any other faith, sometimes, even, by some of its own followers. This research investigate the nature and constraints of the normative relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims. It is based mainly on an attempt to apprehend the Qur’an in its own textual and historical context. The basic methodology and hypothesis of this paper is summed up as follows: As a religious faith, normative Islam is not identical with the actions of its “followers.”