Sacred Misinterpretations

The dawn of the twenty-first century witnessed military interventions by the United States and its Western allies in Iraq and Afghanistan, reigniting the debate about the nature and depth of Christian-Muslim rivalry. This Christian-Muslim divide also manifests itself in internal divisions within multi-religious states like Lebanon, Cyprus, Sudan, Nigeria among others. Given the proliferation of negative news on the “other” by media from either side, the present generation could be forgiven for believing that this rivalry had always been there. That this was not the case, at least during the early centuries of Islam, is the proposition of the work under review. This book therefore is a welcome addition in the literature on Christian-Muslim relations which argues that there is much more room for harmonious coexistence in the religious scriptures of the two sides than there is for conflict arising out of self-serving (mis)interpretations.

The first formal interaction between the Muslims and Christians is recordedduring the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) when a Christian delegation from Southern oasis town of Najran descended at Madinah for a theological dialogue. That the debate itself was respectful and that the Prophet graciously allowed the Christians to offer their religious service in his Mosque (al-Masjid al-Nabawi) is testimony itself of a positive start. Reportedly, the Prophet challenged them on the concept of Jesus being the son of God and waited for further Divine revelations to offer further arguments. Neither side could convince the other and so the delegation packed up and left. This shows that interreligious dialogue cannot be an end in itself as its purpose is not “consensus” which, given doctrinal differences, is neither feasible nor necessarily desirable.