Making the Islamic Case for Religious Liberty

Mustering numerous examples from the Quran, Abdullah Saeed argues that a firm scriptural basis exists for an Islamic theory of religious toleration. He contrasts these Quranic statements with very different passages in Islamic texts of varying degrees of canonicity and with the actual attitudes prevalent in most Muslim countries today. Given the abundant benefits of religious liberty, he argues that Muslim thinkers should try to recover the idea from their own tradition: