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INTRODUCTION

1.0 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Over the years, many works towards understanding Islam other faith relation has
been done by many scholars in the past and present. There were also a number of
Muslims scholars engaged in this field. Some of them are Ali Ibn Rabban al-Tabari (d.
861 CE), Abu Uthman al-Jahiz (d. 869 CE), Abu Isa al-Waraq, Abu Ali al-Jubbai, Ibn
Hazm (d. 1064 CE), Fahkr al-Din ar-Razi (d. 1210 CE), Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 1328 CE),
and Abu Rayhan al-Biruni (973-1051 CE).
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Then, Muslims contributions in the field are
continuing by later scholars. Some of the Muslims contemporary scholars are like Ismail
Raji al-Faruqi (1921-1986 CE), Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Fethullah Gulen.
Al-Faruqi has stated that the ultimate truth of the dialogue is the conversion to the
truth.
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Al-Qardawi strictly stated that there were no dialogues with those who commit
injustice against the Islam based on the verse in the Quran (29:46).
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The other Muslim
scholars also had put the base of the dialogue between Islam and other faith which this

1
Zuriati Bt Mohd Rashid, and Dr. Engku Ahmad Zaki Engku Alwi. 2010. Al-Faruqi and His Views on
Comparative Religion. International Journal of Business and Social Science . Vol. 1 No. 1. October 2010.
2
Al-Faruqi, Islam and Christianity: Prospects for dialogue, Sacred Heart Messenger, (September 1967):
29-33. Islam and Christianity: Problems and perspectives, in James P. Cotter, ed., The Word in the Third
World (Washington: Corpus Books, 1968). As cited in Charles D. Fletcher, 2008. IsmaIl Al-Faruqi (1921-
1986) And Inter-Faith Dialogue: The Man, The Scholar, The Participant. Tesis Ph.D. Institute of Islamic
Studies,McGill University, Montreal. p. 184.
3
Yusuf al-Qaradawi's "Shari'a and Life" program on al-Jazeera (November 28, 2010), as cited in
WikiIslam.net. (http://wikiislam.net/wiki/Al-
Qaradawi_Refuses_Dialogue_with_Jews,_Announces_He_Has_%22Cut_Off_the_Pope%22) accessed
December 31, 2013.
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base was extracted from Quranic verses. From their contribution, it benefits the Muslim
community in all the world in interacting with the other believers.
As well as in Malaysia, there are multi-religious communities like Muslim and
Christians. These two religious communities have interacted since long time ago in
history. Sometime, there were some issues arise because of misunderstanding of each
other. Hence, the dialogue seems to a good tool in order to eliminate this
misunderstanding and prejudice in order to provide a harmonious religious life in
Malaysia.
This study will give a preliminary study to the selected contemporary prominent
Muslim scholars on their methodologies and approaches towards interfaith dialogue.
Then, these approaches and methodologies that have been formulated by them will be
used in order to analyze the opportunity for inter-religious dialogue between Muslim-
Christian religious communities in Malaysia.
1.1 PROBLEM STATEMENT
Muslim-Christian relation in Malaysia can be traced from the age of falling of the
Sultanate of Malacca to the Portuguese.
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The colonial came to the Malay world with the
mission to spread the Christianity with them. Since that era, Christianity meets with Islam
that has been coming early to the Malay world in the age Sultanate of Malacca.
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6
This

4
Azmi Shah Suratman et al. 2008. Beberapa Pengamatan Awal Hubungan Islam dan Kristian di Malaysia,
Khadijah Mohd Hambali @ Hambali et al. 2008. Isu dan Cabaran hubungan antara agama di Malaysia,
Kuala Lumpur: Jabatan Akidah dan Pemikiran Islam, Universiti Malaya. p. 64.
5
Susan E. Ackermann and Raymond L. M. Lee. 1998. Heaven in Transitions Non-Muslim Religions
Inovation and Ethnic Identity in Malaysia. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. p. 20.
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Robbie B. H. Goh. 2005. Christianity in Southeast Asia. Southeast Asia Background Series No. 7.
Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. p. 47.
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relation continued along the history and after the independence of Malaysia in 1957 until
the present day.
Recently, there have been a lot of issues that has been arisen between Muslims-
Christian religious communities in Malaysia. Among the important issues are as follows;
the issues of freedom of religion, freedom of expression, human rights and the usage of
the term Allah by non-Muslim. These issues become worse when it has been manipulated
by the politicians. Hence, through the study of the Muslims-Christians relation in
Malaysia, hopefully it can bring these two religious communities to the harmonious
dialogue and live in a harmonious religious life.
1.2 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
i. What are the Islamic perspectives in the dialogue with Christians?
ii. What are the Muslims scholar views towards the dialogue with Christians?
iii. What is the historical contact that has been passed by Muslim-Christian
communities in Malaysia?
iv. What are the practical modules that can be applied among Muslim and Christian
religious community in Malaysia.

1.3 OBJECTIVE OF STUDY
This research will highlight on a few important objectives which are:
i. To clarify the Islamic perspectives on the dialogue between Muslim-Christian by
observing the contemporary prominent Muslim scholars views towards the
dialogue between these two religious communities.
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ii. To highlight the historical interaction that has been passed by Muslim and
Christian community in Malaysia in the past.
iii. To identify some practical module that can be applied among Muslim and
Christian religious community in Malaysia.

1.4 IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY
This study will benefit these following parties:
i. The government sector especially JAKIM and the Islamic Religious Department
in each state in Malaysia might grab important information about ways to
implemented an effective dialogue between these two religious communities in
order to actualize a harmonious religious life among multi-religious communities
in Malaysia.
ii. This study also benefits researchers and academician upon the topic of the
contemporary Muslim scholars view on the Muslim-Christian dialogue and the
historical interactions between these two religious communities in Malaysia.
iii. This research also gives an opportunity to the university students who have
interest in discussing and studying about the interfaith dialogue between Muslim
and Christian community in Malaysia.
iv. This research also benefits Muslim community in order to understand the Islamic
perspective on the dialogue by comprehending the Muslim scholars view in
interpreting Quranic verses on the dialogue. So they can understand how to
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actualize an effective dialogue between these two religious communities in the
context of Malaysia.

1.5 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
This study will critically analyze contemporary Muslim scholars view on the
concept of the dialogue in Islam and how they extract the verses in Quran to formulate an
effective module or design of the dialogue in order to attain the real objective of the
dialogue.
However, this is only a study based on the scholars; which is the author makes
some analysis on the views from their works. So the understanding may have differed if it
is studied based on respondents survey.
Besides, the author only selects the Muslim and Christian community in Malaysia
in order to observe their historical interactions in the past and what are the opportunities
that we can grab in order to maintain the harmonious religious life between these two
religious communities in future.
1.6 LITERATURE REVIEW
There are a number of works discussing on the dialogue between Muslim and
Christian community in Malaysia.
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Wan Sabri Wan Yusof and Arfah Ab Majid in their work Inter-Religious
Dialogue Models in Malaysia
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can be consider as the most complete study on the
interreligious dialogue in Malaysia. They bring the discussion on the Muslim and
Christian perspectives of inter-religious dialogue. Then they come out with the model of
inter-religious dialogue in Malaysia. However, they do not describe on what are the
historical interaction between these two religious communities so that we can know what
are the efforts that has been throw out in order to provide a harmonious religious life
among these two religious communities.
Likewise, Rahimin Affandi Abd. Rahim, Mohd Anuar Ramli and Paizah Ismail in
their study on the Religious Dialogue: Its Reality and Prospects in Malaysia
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reveals
the current reality of the religious dialogue in Malaysia. This study came out with the
discussion on the opportunity in implementing the religious dialogue in the context of
Malaysia. They also bring out the discussion on the form of dialogue that is develops in
Malaysia and also the barriers that can constrain an effective dialogue to be happen.
Nevertheless, they did not discuss in detail on what are the prominent Muslim scholars
view on actualizing an effective dialogue between these two religious communities.
Khairulnizam Mat Karim, Suzy Aziziyana bt.Saili and Muhd Anuar Awang Idris
in their study The Role of Interfaith Dialogue in Societal Development: Malaysian

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Wan Sabri Wan Yusuf and Arfah Ab. Majid. 2012. Inter-Religious Dialogue Model in Malaysia. Global
Journal Al-Thaqafa. Vol. 2.
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Rahim, Rahimin Affandi Abd.; Ramli, Mohd Anuar; Ismail, Paizah; and Nor Hayati Mohd Dahlal. 2011.
Religious Dialogue: Its Reality and Prospects in Malaysia. Kajian Malaysia: Journal of Malaysian Studies.
Vol. 29 Issue 2, p91-110. 20p.
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Experience
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bring out the discussion on the functions of interfaith dialogue on social
development in Malaysia. This study looked at the aspect of integration and unity, forms
through the implementation of dialogue in the aspects of development, including aspects
of religion. It also focused on the Islamic perspectives on interfaith major concepts,
developmental aspects (1Malaysia policy), dialogue interconnection with in-country
development policy, as well as some current and related issues. However, this study did
not focus on the historical contacts of the Muslim-Christian community in Malaysia. It
just came out with some related issues and explains the function played by the dialogue in
issues involving the non-Muslims interests.
Arfah Ab. Majid through his work on Inter-Religious Dialogue in Malaysia and
Prejudice Reduction: A Preliminary Survey
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study on the role of dialogue as an
approach to reduce prejudice among Malaysian societies. This study reviews the practice
of inter-religious dialogue in Malaysia and examines some organizational dialogue
models that exist in Malaysia. Somehow, this study just focus on how interfaith dialogue
can reduce prejudice without provides a good model of dialogue. Thus, it suggests for
inter-religious dialogue practitioners and organizations to develop a systematic inter-
religious dialogue that is grounded in specific theories in future.
Suraya Sintang, Azizan Baharudin, and Khadijah Mohd Khambali@Hambali in
their works, Dialogue of Life and Its Significance in Inter-Religious Relation in

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Khairulnizam Mat Karim, Suzy Aziziyana Saili and Muhd Anuar Awang Idris. 2012. The Role of
Interfaith Dialogue in Societal Development: Malaysian Experience. British Journal of Arts and Social
Sciences. Vol.8 No.1.
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Ab. Majid, Arfah. Inter-Religious Dialogue in Malaysia and Prejudice Reduction: A Preliminary Survey.
Proceeding Of The International Conference On Social Science Research, ICSSR 2013 (e-ISBN 978-967-
11768-1-8). 4-5 June 2013, Penang, Malaysia.
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Malaysia
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reveals the concept of dialogue in life and how this dialogue has a significant
impact on encouraging positive interaction among people of different religions in
Malaysia. Apart from that, Idris Zakaria and Aemy Elyani Mat Zain in The Importance
of Interfaith Dialogue: In The Context of Malaysia
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expose the importance and the goal
of interfaith dialogue to be practiced by all religions without exemption. They also bring
out the discussion on the ethic and the principle of the interfaith dialogue that should be
known by the participants of interfaith dialogue.
Ahmad Munawar Ismail and Wan Kamal Mujani in Themes and Issues in
Research on Interfaith and Inter-Religious Dialogue in Malaysia
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initiates the
discussion on the relationship among different religious groups in the country and
examine the challenges in the implementation of interfaith dialogue in Malaysia. This
study comes out with some recommendations for considerations that may help improve
and stabilized interfaith and interreligious relations in Malaysia.
The other work was done by Haslina Ibrahim in Developing A Profile Of
Religions In Malaysia For Inter-Faith Discourses.
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This study gathers and manages the
data on religions in order to develop a profile of religions in Malaysia.
The distinction between this study and the other previous works is it will provide a
clear understanding on the approaches and the methodologies used by the prominent
contemporary Muslim scholars towards the inter-faith dialogue. A preliminary analysis

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Sintang, S., Baharuddin, A., Khambali, M., & Hambali, K. 2012. Dialogue of Life and Its Significance in
Inter-Religious Relation in Malaysia. International Journal of Islamic Thought. Vol. 2: (Dec.) 2012.
12
Zakaria, I., Zain, M., & Elyani, A. 2012. The Importance of Interfaith Dialogue: In the Context of
Malaysia. Journal of Applied Sciences Research. 8(6): 2915-2919, 2002.
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Ismail, A. M., & Kamal Mujani, W. 2012. Themes and Issues in Research on Interfaith and Inter-
Religious Dialogue in Malaysia. Advances in Natural & Applied Sciences, 6(6).1001-1009, 2012.
14
Ibrahim, H. 2011. Developing A Profile Of Religions In Malaysia For Inter-Faith Discourses.
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will be given on their works in order to understand their methodologies and approaches in
the success of the dialogue.
Then, from this understanding, the author will make some analysis on the
opportunity of the dialogue among Muslim and Christian community in the context of
Malaysia. This analysis will be made based on the historical interaction that was passed
by these two religious communities in Malaysia start from the era of the colonization until
the present day.
1.7 METHODOLOGY OF STUDY
The writer conducts this research by using library research. It involves the using
of first resources and secondary resources whereby it is taken from the books, academic
journal and thesis. Hence, the guidelines will be provided from the result of this study.
This study also applies a descriptive analysis method. This method was applied in
order to gain a deep understanding on the historical interaction of the Muslim and
Christian community in Malaysia. Many works in regard to this issue has been observed
and analyzed. From the data that has been collected and organized, a descriptive analysis
has been made.
A descriptive analysis method also has been applied in order to identify the
different methodologies and approaches that have been formulated by the different
Muslim scholars. In investigating their approach, a descriptive data analysis has been
done through explanation and interpretation on several of their works.
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From the analysis, it helps to generate in-depth descriptions on their
methodologies and approaches towards a successful inter-religious dialogue.

1.8 THESIS OUTLINE
Introduction chapter will cover the overview of this research including the aims and
the objectives as well as the limitation and scope of the discussion. In this introduction,
the importance of the research will be included and the methodology of the research also
will be described. This part also will provide some literature review on the previous
researches that has been done by the other researchers.
Then, chapter one will focus on the views of selected contemporary prominent
Muslim scholars towards the dialogue between Islam and the other faiths. The scholars
that have been selected are Ismail Raji Al-Faruqi, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Yusuf Al-
Qaradawi and Fethullah Gulen. The author will make some analysis on their approaches
and methodologies towards the dialogue between Islam and the other faiths.
Chapter two provide the discussion on the historical interaction of Muslim-Christian
community in Malaysia. The author commences the discussion with a brief explanation
on the coming of Islam and Christianity to the Malay world. It was important to
understand the background of the religion that was coming into the Malay world and how
it shaped the mentality of these two religious communities in communicating to each
other in future.
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Then the discussion proceeds with the interaction between Muslim and Christian
community in several phases in history. The discussion starts with the interaction of these
two religious communities during the falling of Sultanate of Malacca which it was the
first interaction of these two religious communities in history. Then, the discussion
continues to the interaction in pre and post Independence of Malaysia.
Chapter three concerns some recommendations from the author towards a better way
of the dialogue among Muslim and Christian communities in Malaysia. Some models of
the dialogue that has been developed and recently develop in Malaysia will be discussed
in this topic. Additionally, the author also outlined some guidelines in doing interfaith
dialogue in order to assure the objectives of the dialogue can be attained.
Lastly, the author closes the discussion with a conclusion for the whole discussions in
the study. It includes some recommendations for the further research so the other
researcher can proceed with a better study in future.