Re-reading al-Biruni's "India": a case for intercultural understanding

It is argued that until recently the major motive behind the interest in religious traditions other than one's own has been to refute the truth-claims of the former. This attitude was based on the conviction that the religious tradition to which the student of religion belonged contained all th...

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Κύριος συγγραφέας: Ataman, Kemal (Συγγραφέας)
Τύπος μέσου: Ηλεκτρονικά/Εκτύπωση Άρθρο
Γλώσσα:Αγγλικά
Έλεγχος διαθεσιμότητας: HBZ Gateway
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Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Έκδοση: Routledge 2005
Στο/Στη: Islam and Christian-Muslim relations
Έτος: 2005, Τόμος: 16, Τεύχος: 2, Σελίδες: 141-154
Άλλες λέξεις-κλειδιά:B Dialogue
B Islam
B Religious philosophy
B Philosophy of religion
B Middle Ages
B Früh
B Early
B Hinduism
B India
Διαθέσιμο Online: Volltext (doi)
Περιγραφή
Σύνοψη:It is argued that until recently the major motive behind the interest in religious traditions other than one's own has been to refute the truth-claims of the former. This attitude was based on the conviction that the religious tradition to which the student of religion belonged contained all that he or she needed to know, since whatever remained outside the authoritative revelation was at best irrelevant and at worst dangerous. Although prevalent throughout history, this approach was not the only model for studying religions other than one's own. There have been scholars within the Islamic tradition who showed genuine interest in studying and understanding other religious traditions on their own terms. Arguably, one of the best representatives of these scholars was al-Birūnī (973–1048 CE) whose accomplishments in other disciplines, notably in natural sciences, overshadowed his crucial contribution to the study of religion. This paper is an attempt to contribute to the current debate in the study of religion by analyzing the method al-Birūnī employed in his treatment of the religious traditions of India. In pursuing the subject, the paper aims to elucidate the phenomenological, dialogical and comparative aspects of al-Birūnī's thought in light of contemporary scholarship.
ISSN:0959-6410
Περιλαμβάνει:In: Islam and Christian-Muslim relations
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/09596410500059623