This article deals with several mediaeval Muslim thinkers who gave sympathetic attention to the religions of India, such as al-Bīrūnī, al-Gardīzī, Amīr Khusraw and Dārā Shukōh. The main part of the paper analyses the thought of the 18th century Indian Muslim thinker Mirzā Maẓhar Jān-i Jānān. Several scholars have maintained that Jān-i Jānān regarded the Hindūs as monotheists and the Vedas as divinely inspired. The conclusion reached here is that this assessment is exaggerated. While Jān-i Jānān concedes that the Hindūs (...) of the pre-Islamic era had their own prophets and believed in a religion that pleased God, the Hindūs who have lived since the coming of Islām without joining its fold are infidels. (shrink)

Current tendencies in religious studies and theology show a growing interest for the interchange between religions and the cultures of rationalization surrounding them. The studies published in this volume, based on the international conferences of both the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften and the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, aim to contribute to this field of interest by dealing with concepts and influences of rationalization in Judaism, Christianity, Islam and religion in general. In addition to taking a closer look at (...) the immediate links in the history of tradition between those rationalizing movements and evolutions in religion, emphasis is put on intellectual-historical convergences: Therefore, the articles are led by central comparative questions, such as what factors foster/hinder rationalization?; where are criteria for rationalization drawn from?; in which institutions is rationalization taking place?; who propagates, supports and utilizes rationalization? (shrink)