First Published in 2001
by Routledge
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Transferred to Digital Printing 2010
Editorial Matter 2001 Lloyd Ridgeon
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ISBN10: 0-7007-1317-4 (hbk)
ISBN10: 0-415-58706-9 (pbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-7007-1317-2 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-415-58706-8 (pbk)
Publisher's Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original may be apparent.
This book emerged from a one day conference held at the University of Glasgow in May 1997. Many people supported this event, but in particular I would like to thank Alastair Hunter who at the time was the Dean of the Faculty of Theology. My colleague Dr. Mona Siddiqui was also an unlimited source of assistance. The conference managed to cover its costs, largely due to the generosity of the Spalding Trust (and I appreciate the encouragement offered by Dr. Michael Loewe and Sir Nicholas Barrington in my fund-raising activities). Several of the papers given at this conference do not appear in this volume for various reasons. Nevertheless, my gratitude is extended to the following who all contributed excellent papers: Dr. Husayn Ghumsha, Mr. Richard Gauvain, Dr. Colin Imber, Prof. Robert Hillenbrand, Prof. Sachiko Murata and Prof. William Chittick. Thanks are also extended to various scholars who suggested various ways in which this volume could be improved.
Needless to say, it is impossible to cover all major Islamic interpretations of Christianity. The aim has been to provide a rough guide from the beginning of Islam, commencing with the Qurn, through the adth literature, classical exegesis and esoteric Sufi views. The second section is an attempt to render this book relevant to those who seek to understand the attitude of modern Muslims to Christianity. The chapters in this second section do not make for happy reading, yet I am aware that there are Muslims who do not hold negative views of Christianity and the West. Perhaps one of the most important tasks for this millenium is for Christians and the West to re-assess their understanding of Islam, an understanding which contributes to the contemporary negative Islamic conception of
NOTES
For the views of these modern Islamic intellectuals, see Liberal Islam, ed. C. Kurzman (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998).
Hugh Goddard has taught Islamic Studies at the University of Nottingham since 1984, where he is now a reader. He is the author of Christians and Muslims: From Double Standards to Mutual Understanding (Curzon Press, 1995), and Muslim Perceptions of Christianity (Grey Seal, 1996).
Philip Lewis is inter-faith adviser to the Anglican Bishop of Bradford, and lectures in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Leeds. He was a commissioner for the Runnymede Trust's inquiry which produced the report Islamophobia, a Challenge for Us All. He represents the Archbishop of Canterbury on the Advisory council for the Centre for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations in Birmingham. He is the author of Islamic Britain (I. B. Tauris, 1994).
Leonard Lewisohn is a specialist on Sufism, Persian literature and Islamic studies. His publications include Beyond Faith and Infidelity: the Sufi Poetry and Teachings of Mamd Shabistar (Curzon Press, 1995), and he has editor of Dvn-i Muammad Shrn Maghrib (Tehran: Tehran University Press, 1993). He is currently the Outreach Co-ordinator at the Department of Academic Research and Publication at the Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, where he also teaches Persian.
David Marshall has taught Islamic Studies at Oxford University and St. Pauls's College, Limuru, Kenya. He is the author of God, Muhammad and the Unbelievers: a Qur'anic Study (Curzon Press, 1999).
Jane Dammen McAuliffe is Professor of Islamic Studies and Dean of the College at Georgetown University, Washington D.C. She is the author of Qurnic Christians (Cambridge University Press, 1991), and is currently editing the Encyclopaedia of the Qurn (Brill, forthcoming).
Lloyd Ridgeon lectures in Islamic and Persian Studies in the Centre for the Study of Islam at the University of Glasgow. He is the author of Azz Nasaf (Curzon Press, 1998) and Crescents on the Cross (Trinity St. Mungo Press, 1999).
Neal Robinson is Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Wales, Lampeter. His books include Christ in Islam and Christianity (Macmillan, 1991), Sayings of Muhammad (Duckworth, 1991), Discovering the Qurn (SCM, 1996) and Islam: A Concise Introduction (Curzon, 1999).
Malise Ruthven has taught Islamic studies and comparative religion at the University Aberdeen and Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). He is the author, among other works, of Islam in the World (Penguin 1984, revised edition 2000); The Divine Supermarket: Shopping for God in America (Chatto 1989); A Satanic Affair: Salman Rushdie and the Wrath of Islam (Chatto 1990) and Islam: A Very Short Introduction (OUP, 1997).
Marston Speight served the church for twenty-eight years in three countries of North Africa. Then for thirteen years he directed the Office on Christian-Muslim Relations of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, and taught Islamic studies on the adjunct faculty at Hartford (Connecticut) Seminary before retiring in 1992. He is the co-author (with Kenneth Cragg) of Islam from Within (Wadsworth, 1980).
David Thomas is Senior Lecturer at the Centre for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, Selly Oak, Birmingham, and a member of the Department of Theology at the University of Birmingham. He is a specialist in the history of Islamic religious thought and Christian-Muslim relations. He is currently collaborating on an annotated edition and translation of a reply to Christian criticisms of Islam by a fourteenth century Syrian Muslim.
Kate Zebiri is Senior Lecturer in Arabic and Islamic Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. She is the author of Muslims and Christians Face to Face (Oneworld, 1997) and Mahmud Shaltut and Islamic Modernism (OUP, 1993).
