Islamic Concept of Peace, Tolerance and Religious Harmony: An Assessment of Montgomery Watt and Robert Spencer’s views

Abstract

Abstract
Islam promotes religious harmony, tolerance and peaceful co-existence not
only among the Muslims, but also among the people of other faiths. As
established by Islam, it is important for every Muslim to tolerate other
religions, and to follow the policy of living peacefully with other nations and
religions despite fundamental disagreements. However, modern western
scholars and Orientalists such as Montgomery Watt and Robert Spencer are
inclined to disprove all teachings of Islam while interpreting the verses of
Holy Quran in their Quran commentaries and books. This article is aimed to
explore how the Holy Qur'an appeals to Muslims to engage in religious
tolerance, peace and harmony with the people of other religions in order to
bring a true manifestation of peace and brotherhood in diversity and respect
for each other's rights on the basis of their common humanity. In this article
their untenable hypotheses, biased and prejudiced conclusions have been
refuted. For this research, modern research methodology has been followed.
Instead of paraphrasing and putting in our own words the writings and
observations of various scholars, the method of Muslim historiography has
been followed by quoting the writer in his own words, giving full reference
to his work.