Ta‘āruf and Its Relevance to Interreligious Dialogue
A Semantic Analysis of Sūrat al-Ḥujurāt, Verse 13
Abstract
This article discusses interreligious dialogue as expressed in the Qur’ān, namely al-Ḥujurāt (49) verse 13. Expressed with the term “ta‘āruf” (to know one another), this concept can be interpreted as a foundation for modern interreligious discourse, promoting peaceful coexistence and harmony within the Islamic worldview. In this case, the worldview approach serves as a semantic framework to reconstruct conceptual meaning embedded in the Qur’ānic verse, delivering the reader a deeper apprehension of how Muslims should engage with other religions. This article concludes that ta‘āruf conveyed the message of interreligious dialogue in Islam built on interrelated conceptions of words based on the root ‘a-r-f, resulting in three primary reflections: first, the Qur’ānic verse demands Muslims and all of humanity to carry out dialogue; second, the verse hints that proper knowledge and piety are required before commencing the dialogue, denoting theological and epistemological needs for an interfaith conversation; and third, the verse acknowledges the nature of human creation in diverse social and cultural backgrounds, signifying the foundation of Islamic ethics (akhlāq), which is essential to dialogue.
References
Ababneh, Yahya. Al-Naḥw al-‘Arabī fī Ḍaw’ al-Lughāt al-Sāmiyyah wa ’l-Lahjāt al-‘Arabiyyah al-Qadīmah: Dirāsah Muqāranah. Irbid: Dār al-Kitāb, 2018.
Abdel Haleem. The Qur’an: A New Translation by M. A. S. Abdel Haleem. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
Açikgenç, Alparslan. Islamic Science: Toward a Definition. Kuala Lumpur: ISTAC, 1996.
Afsaruddin, Asma. “The Hermeneutics of Inter-Faith Relations: Retrieving Moderation and Pluralism as Universal Principles in Qur’anic Exegeses.” The Journal of Religious Ethics 37, no. 2 (2009): 331–54.
Al-Aṣfahānī, al-Rāghib. Mufradāt Alfādẓ al-Qur’ān. Damascus: Dār al-Qalam, 2009.
Al-Attas, Syed Muhammad Naquib. Prolegomena to the Metaphysics of Islam: An Exposition of the Fundamental Aspect of the Worldview of Islam. Kuala Lumpur: International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC), 1995.
Al-Nīsābūrī, ‘Alī b. Aḥmad al-Wāḥidī. Asbāb al-Nuzūl. Edited by Kamāl Basyūnī Zaghlūl. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah, 1991.
Al-Qaṭṭān, Mannā‘. Mabāḥith fī ‘Ulūm al-Qur’ān. Cairo: Maktabat Wahbah, 2000.
Al-Ṭayyār, Musā‘id b. Sulaymān b. Nāṣir. Al-Tafsīr al-Lughawī li ’l-Qur’ān al-Karīm. Riyadh: Dār Ibn Jawzī, 2002.
Al-Zarqānī, Muḥammad ‘Abd al-‘Aẓīm. Manāhil al-‘Irfān fī ‘Ulūm al-Qur’ān. Cairo: ʻĪsā al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī, 1943.
Ashimi, Tijani Ahmad. “The Importance of Peaceful Co-Existence with Other Religions in Islam (with Particular Reference to Christianity).” International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science 4, no. 10 (2020): 232–37.
Ayoub, Mahmoud. “Religious Pluralism and the Qur’an.” In Contemporary Approaches to the Quran and Sunnah, edited by Mahmoud Ayoub, 39-56. Herndon, VA: International Institute of Islamic Thought, 2012. doi:10.2307/j.ctvk8w26p.
Ayoub, Mahmoud. “The Need for Harmony and Collaboration between Muslims and Christians.” In A Muslim View of Christianity: Essays on Dialogue by Mahmoud Ayoub, edited by Irfan A. Omar, 9-16. New York: Orbis Books, 2007.
Badzinski, Diane M., Robert H. Woods Jr., and Chad M. Nelson. “Content Analysis.” In The Routledge Handbook of Research Methods in The Study of Religion, edited by Steven Engler and Michael Stausberg, 180-92. 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 2022.
Bardon, Aurélia, Matteo Bonotti, and Steven T. Zech. “Educating Citizens to Public Reason: What Can We Learn from Interfaith Dialogue?” Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy. May 10, 2022. 1–25. doi:10.1080/13698230.2022.2073104.
Berling, Judith A. “Developing Pedagogies of Interreligious Understanding.” In Critical Perspectives on Interreligious Education: Experiments in Empathy, edited by Heidi Hadsell and Najeeba Syeed, 1-12. Leiden: Brill Rodopi, 2020.
Blackburn, Simon. The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.
Borchert, Donald M. Encyclopedia of Philosophy. New York, NY: Thomson Gale, 2006.
Cornell, Vincent J. “Theologies of Difference and Ideologies of Intolerance in Islam.” In Religious Tolerance in World Religions, edited by Jacob Neusner and Bruce Chilton, 274–96. West Conshohocken, PA: Templeton Foundation Press, 2008.
Cornille, Catherine. “Conditions for Inter-Religious Dialogue.” In The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Inter-Religious Dialogue, edited by Catherine Cornille, 20-33. Hoboken: Wiley, 2013.
Cronshaw, Darren. “Finding Common Ground: Grassroots Dialogue Principles for Interreligious Learning at University.” Journal of Religious Education 69, no. 1 (2021): 127–44. doi:10.1007/s40839-020-00128-0.
Davidson, Donald. Inquiries into Truth and Interpretation. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991.
Elius, Mohammad, Issa Khan, Mohd Roslan Mohd Nor, Abdul Muneem, Fadillah Mansor, and Mohd Yakub @ Zulkifli Bin Mohd Yusoff. “Muslim Treatment of Other Religions in Medieval Bengal.” SAGE Open 10, no. 4 (2020): 215824402097054. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244020970546.
Fazlhashemi, Mohammad. “Occidentalism.” In Religious Stereotyping and Interreligious Relations, edited by Jesper Svartvik, 85-95. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.
Friedman, Maurice S. Martin Buber: The Life of Dialogue. New York: Harper, 1960.
Hassan, Riffat. “Messianism and Islam.” Journal of Ecumenical Studies 22, no. 2 (1985): 261-91.
Ibn Manẓūr, Muḥammad b. Mukrim. Lisān al-‘Arab. Cairo: Dār al-Ma‘ārif, 2008.
Ilić, Angela. “Looking Through a Veil: Challenges and Perspectives of Interreligious Dialogue in Serbia.” Interdisciplinary Journal for Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society 6, no. 2 (2020): 413–28. doi:10.30965/23642807-00602009.
Izutsu, Toshihiko. Ethico-Religious Concepts in the Qur’an. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2002.
Izutsu, Toshihiko. God and Man in the Qur’an. Petaling Jaya: Islamic Book Trust, 2008.
Jackendoff, Ray. Semantic Structures. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1990.
Jackendoff, Ray. The Architecture of the Language Faculty. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1997.
Khan, Ali Mahdi. The Elements of Islamic Philosophy, Based on Original Texts. Lahore: Sh. Muhammad Ashraf, 1999.
Khan, Issa, Mohammad Elius, Mohd Roslan Mohd Nor, Mohd Yakub zulkifli Bin Mohd yusoff, Kamaruzaman Noordin, and Fadillah Mansor. “A Critical Appraisal of Interreligious Dialogue in Islam.” SAGE Open 10, no. 4 (2020): 215824402097056. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244020970560.
Kuhn, Thomas S. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.
Kurucan, Ahmet, and Mustafa Kasim Erol. Dialogue in Islam: Qur’an - Sunnah - History. London: Dialogue Society, 2012.
Leirvik, Oddbjorn. “Religion in School, Interreligious Relations and Citizenship: The Case of Pakistan.” British Journal of Religious Education 30, no. 2 (2008): 143–54. doi:10.1080/01416200701831069.
Marshall, Paul. “The Ambiguities of Religious Freedom in Indonesia.” The Review of Faith & International Affairs 16, no. 1 (2018): 85–96. doi:10.1080/15570274.2018.1433588.
Maulana, Abdullah Muslich Rizal, Muhammad Faqih Nidzom, Achmad Reza Hutama Al Faruqi, and Choirul Ahmad. ‘Reconsidering Manifestation and Significances of Islamic Philosophy’. Aqlania: Jurnal Filsafat Dan Teologi Islam 12, no. 1 (2021): 25–52. https://doi.org/10.32678/aqlania.v1i12.3633.
Maulana, Abdullah Muslich Rizal, Muttaqin Muttaqin, and Alif Nur Fitriyani. “Paguyuban Sumarah and Interrituality: An Enquiry to the Practice of Interreligious Ritual Participation in Sujud Sumarah.” Walisongo: Jurnal Penelitian Sosial Keagamaan 29, no. 1 (2021): 27–54. doi:10.21580/walisongo.29.1.7364.
Maulana, Abdullah Muslich Rizal. “Semantic Reinterpretation of the Prophet Muhammad’s Obligatory Properties for Da’wah Advancement in the Interreligious Context.” Jurnal Manajemen Dakwah 4, no. 1 (2018): 1–22. doi:10.14421/jmd.2018.41-01.
Maulana, Abdullah Muslich Rizal. “Sulha Theological Foundation: Tracing Key Concepts of Reconciliation in Worldview of Islam.” Dauliyah Journal 4, no. 1 (2019): 16–39.
McCarthy, Kate. “Reckoning with Religious Difference: Model of Interreligious Moral Dialogue.” In Explorations in Global Ethics: Comparative Religious Ethics and Interreligious Dialogue, edited by Sumner B. Twiss and Bruce Grelle, 73-117. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1998.
Moyaert, Marianne, and Joris Geldhof, eds. Ritual Participation and Interreligious Dialogue: Boundaries, Transgressions and Innovations. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2015.
Moyaert, Marianne, ed. Interreligious Relations and the Negotiation of Ritual Boundaries: Explorations in Interrituality. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2019).
Moyaert, Marianne. “Interreligious Dialogue and the Value of Openness; Taking the Vulnerability of Religious Attachments into Account: Interreligious Dialogue and the Value of Openness.” The Heythrop Journal 51, no. 5 (2010): 730–40. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2265.2010.00574.x.
Moyaert, Marianne. “Oneself as Another: The Frailty of Religious Commitments and Its Impact on Interreligious Dialogue.” Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses 86, no. 4 (2010): 355–77. doi:10.2143/ETL.86.4.2062420.
Moyaert, Marianne. “Recent Developments in the Theology of Interreligious Dialogue: From Soteriological Openness to Hermeneutical Openness: Recent Developments in the Theology of Interreligious Dialogue.” Modern Theology 28, no. 1 (2012): 25-52. doi:10.1111/j .1468-0025.2011.01724.x.
Moyaert, Marianne. “The Theology of Religions and the Tension between Openness and Closedness.” In Fragile Identities: Towards a Theology of Interreligious Hospitality, 47–84. Leiden: Brill, 2011.
Olivier, Bert. “Worldviews: A Blessing or a Curse?” Koers - Bulletin for Christian Scholarship 77, no. 1 (2012): 1-8. doi:10.4102/koers.v77i1.24.
Özoğuz, Aydan, and Jean-Paul Willaime, eds. “Foreword: The Role of Religion for Living Together in a Diverse Society.” In Religious Diversity and Interreligious Dialogue. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2020. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-31856-7.
Pratt, Douglas, Jon Hoover, John Davies, and John Chesworth, eds. The Character of Christian-Muslim Encounter Essays in Honour of David Thomas. Leiden: BRILL, 2015.
Resane, Kelebogile T. “The Church and the Parachurch: Can the Two Dialogue in Order to Agree?” Verbum et Ecclesia 41, no. 1 (2020): 1-8. doi:10.4102/ve.v41i1.2099.
Sachedina, Abdulaziz Abdulhussein. The Islamic Roots of Democratic Pluralism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Safi, Louay M. “Religious Freedom and Interreligious Relations in Islam: Reflections on Da’wah and Qur’anic Ethics.” The Review of Faith and International Affairs 9, no. 2 (2011): 11-16. doi:10.1080/15570274.2011.571422.
Sahal, Ibn Jamā‘ah. Asbāb al-Nuzūl: Asānīduhā wa Atharuhā fi Tafsīr al-Qur’ān al-Karīm. Mecca: Umm al-Qurā, 1986.
Sanaullah, Md. “Interfaith Dialogue in Islam: A Scriptural Scrutiny.” IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science 19, no. 3 (2014): 86-91. doi:10.9790/0837-19348691.
Smart, Ninian. Worldview Crosscultural Explorations of Human Belief, 3rd ed. New York: Charles Sribner’s, 2000.
Stay, John-Charles, Tanya van Wyk, and Yolanda Dreyer. “‘Holiness’ and Faith Practice Today: A Contribution towards Interreligious Dialogue.” Verbum et Ecclesia 40, no. 1 (2019): 1-7. doi:10.4102/ve.v40i1.2022.
‘Umar, Aḥmad Mukhtār. Al-Mu‘jam al-Mawsū‘ī li Alfāẓ al-Qur’ān al-Karīm wa Qirā’ātihi. Riyadh: Mu’assasat al-Turāth, 2002.
Wall, Thomas F. Thinking Critically about Philosophical Problems. Boston, MA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 2001.
Weisse, Wolfram. “The European Research Project ReDi: Religion and Dialogue in Modern Societies; An Overview.” Religion & Education 46, no. 1 (2019): 1–19. doi:10.1080/15507394.2019.1577709.
Publication of material in the journal means that the author assigns copyright to Islamic Studies including the rights to electronic publishing. This is, inter alia, to ensure the efficient handling of requests from third parties to reproduce articles as well as to enable wide dissemination of the published material. Authors may, however, use their material in other publications acknowledging Islamic Studies as the original place of publication. Requests by third parties for permission to reprint should be addressed to the Editor, Islamic Studies.
.jpg)
