Islam and Inter-Faith Relations: The Gerald Weisfeld Lectures 2006

Islam and Inter-Faith Relations is an insightful inquiry into the relationship of Islam with the World’s other religions. Both the current religious diversity and the historical relationships with the major religious traditions are examined here. In this succinct, clarifying volume, five world-renowned Muslim theologians meet with scholars of Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism to engage in a vivid dialogue. The Muslim realm once stretched from Spain to China. Islam encountered and connected with a vast spectrum of different cultures and today is obviously an incredibly significant influence across the globe. What can Islam give to and what might Islam receive from other great faiths? What are the major points of conflict and how can these be resolved? Each chapter follows a similar pattern of presenting an Islamic view, followed by the view of another world religion. Then both contributors to each chapter reflect on the shared values as well as the conflicting areas, looking to possible resolutions for the future.

Perry Schmidt-Leukel is Professor of Systematic Theology and Religious Studies and Chair of World Religions for Peace at the University of Glasgow. Dr Lloyd Ridgeon teaches Introduction to Islam, Suffism and 19th and 20th C Islamic Movement courses at undergraduate level at the University of Glasgow. Contributions come from: Jacques Waardenburg, Switzerland and Mahmut Aydin, Turkey, Muhammad Kalisch, Germany and Alon Goshen-Gottstein, Israel, Asghar Ali Engineer, India and Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad, UK, Majid Tehranian, USA andAlexander Berzin, Germany, Ataullah Siddiqui, UK and David Kerr, Sweden