Montgomery Watt’s opinion about Islamic approach towards understanding of religions

Abstract

Montgomery Watt has, while writing about Muslim Christian relations, has claimed that Muslims have never shown serious interest in the study of other religions in classic Era because of various reasons. According to him the self sufficiency of Islam, refutation of Israiliyat, Order of Umar, the second caliph of Islam about to burn the books of Alexsendia which were considered to be contradictory with Islamic values, critique of Imam Ahmed bin hanbal about the books of Mutazila and many other elements were there to urge muslims to stay away from the study of the books of other religions. In this article, Watt’s claim has been taken in to consideration and it has been analysed on the factual evidences. The conclusion of this article shows that the opinion of Watt is not supported by authentic and reliable academic evidences because there were always spaces in Muslim communities for have interest in comparative study of world religions. The article contains those proofs which elaborate the other side of reality regarding Muslims attitude towards understanding other religions.