مسلم مطالعۂ مذاہب پیٹریس بروڈئر کی نگاہ میں

ایک تنقیدی جائزہ

Abstract

The Muslim study of religions has claimed the attention of some modern Western scholars. Patrice C. Brodeur, a scholar of religious studies, based at the University of Montreal, is one of them. He delves into the historical realities and epistemological developments that shaped the Muslim study of other religions in the past as well as in contemporary times. For him, in Muslim cultural and religious history, a process of “othering” and identity construction has always been at work behind the production of an internally diverse system of genres that relates to the religious others. This generic system culminated in the form of heresiography in the early centuries of Islam and gradually developed into what may be called the “Islamic history of religions” in contemporary times. He also presents theoretical insights concerning how the Muslim study of religions relates to the modern Western discipline of religious studies. The present article appraises Brodeur’s contribution in this regard and argues that, some observations notwithstanding, his reflexive and perspectival frame of inquiry is a welcome move towards a truly global and cross-cultural discipline of religious studies.