Mahmoud Ayoub and Christian-Muslim Relations
Mahmoud Ayoub and Christian-Muslim Relations
- Imtiyaz YusufImtiyaz YusufCenter for Islam in the Contemporary World (CICW), Shenandoah University
Summary
Mahmoud Mustafa Ayoub was the foremost North American Muslim scholar of Muslim-Christian relations and interreligious dialogue in the modern age who offered new interpretations concerning the roots of conflict between Islam and Christianity. He also offered a new theological approach for building better Muslim-Christian understanding. Ayoub also made methodologically original contributions to the study of Shi’i Islam, tafsir al-Qur’an—Qur’anic exegesis, and building Taqrib al-Madhahib—Sunni-Shi’i ecumenism.
Ayoub was born in a Shii Muslim family, he converted to Christianity, and then returned to Islam. Such a biographical background and scholarly formation enabled him to address Christological issues based on deep insights into the Qur’an and knowledge of Christianity, its theology, and spirituality. Though Ayoub remained committed to Shiism, for him Islam was an integrated religious tradition whose sectarian trends were not an obstacle to being a holistic Muslim.
Keywords
Subjects
- Islamic Studies