Religious Other: A Systematic Review Of Contemporary Muslim Discourses For Co-Existence

Abstract

Today in the globalized world, people are encountering with the cultural, racial and religious multiplicity because of rapid increase of mass media, immigration, internet and tourism. The increasing religious diversity raises many challenging and provoking queries about the presence and the value of religious difference. These encounters not only bring religious violence and oppression but also force to explore prolific and real-world coexistence. Many cotemporaries Muslim scholars are writing thought-provoking commentaries for the depiction of religious Other and on the function of religious plurality in the multireligious societies. This article aims to introduce discourses of contemporary Muslim scholars on religious Other and to review their discourses to identify their approaches towards religious diversity for co-existence using content analysis method.  The paper highlights the distinct trends (prioritization of sameness over religious difference, Affirmation of sameness as well as affirmation of difference and prioritization of difference over sameness) by which contemporary scholars are able to account for religious difference. In fact, these trends have profound implications but also has limitations to understanding the religious Other.