Halim Rane, our colleague in the study of the covenants given by the Prophet Muhammad to respect and protect Christians and Jews – examples of principled leadership for peaceful coexistence – has recently published a new article, “Human Security and Peaceful Coexistence in Islam: Analysis of Covenants in the Qur’an and Sunnah,” written with impressive scholarly precision and offering us unusual insights concerning the textual traditions of Islam.
I urge you to read Halim’s thoughts and conclusions at your earliest convenience.
This article, to me, is one of the most important contributions yet made by a member of our small study group of volunteers who have examined and discussed the covenants of the Prophet for 4 years now.
In particular, Halim points to less noticed textual interdependencies providing excellent guidance on how best to read Surah 9 of the Qur’an on management of inter-faith and inter-communal relations under conditions of tension and disagreement at the time of the Prophet and the revelations of the Qur’an.
To me, Halim’s scholarship provides good reasons to believe in the contemporary importance of the covenants of the Prophet and related texts in the Qur’an and the Hadith, not to mention the Sunnah of the Prophet himself, for making practical and effective peaceful co-existence within the Abrahamic traditions.