TOLERANCE AND COERCION IN ISLAN. INTERFAITH RELATIONS IN THE MUSL IM TRADITION

Since the beginning of its history, Islam has encountered other religious communities both in Arabia and in the territories conquered during its expansion. The most distinctive characteristic of these encounters was that Muslims faced other religions from the position of a ruling power. They were, therefore, able to determine the nature of that relationship in accordance with their world-view and beliefs. Yohanan Friedmann's original and erudite study examines questions of religious tolerance as they appear in the Qur'an and in the prophetic tradition, and analyses the principle that Islam is exalted above all religions, discussing the ways in which this principle was reflected in various legal pronouncements. The book also considers the various interpretations of the Qur'anic verse according to which 'No compulsion is there in religion …', noting that, despite the apparent meaning of this verse, Islamic law allowed religious coercion to be practiced against Manichaeans and Arab idolaters. � • Original and erudite study of interfaith relations in medieval Islam � • The scholarly antidote to some of the more facile generalisations in adjacent literature � • Appeal to historians of Islam and religion, as well as to scholars of Islamic law