Peaceful co-existence between religions is both an individual and societal necessity in today's world. It is particularly important given the daily conflicts that pervade the entire world, East and West. Despite the many conventions and international treaties signed to settle such conflicts and end the ongoing wars, confrontations and disputes still break out from time to time. Therefore, the search for different strategies, other than the sole reliance on law enforcement or the use of institutional power, to end these tensions became an urgent need.
These strategies are believed to be moral-spiritual motives arising from the beliefs and cultures of people as parties to the conflict. Islam, which emerged relatively late in the history of revelation, is best equipped in terms of its moral and ethical arsenal as it incorporates within itself the cumulative moral legacy of all that had come before it. The thesis, hence, proposes that Islam, with its ethical reservoir, can bring peace and security to humanity today. In order to address the ongoing escalating conflicts, sociologists and peacemakers have proposed the concept of ‘Peaceful co-existence’. The thesis, therefore, examines how Islam views this concept and its universal aspects in light of the two most authoritative sources for Muslims, the Qur’ān and Sunnah.
Given that Islam, in its normative teachings, encourages peaceful co-existence in societies, this did not prevent these teachings from being violated at times. According to the suggestion that these violations result from an erroneous understanding of those teachings, it was imperative to investigate their theological hermeneutics in order to elucidate the ambiguities involved. The methodology used in this conceptual study is the descriptive interpretive analysis of the literature surveyed on the concept of Islam in relation to the peaceful co-existence of religions and its practice in the history of Muslim societies.
It is also argued that religions have been used as a cover to justify most sectarian conflicts in societies, especially in the modern era, e.g. Egypt and BiH. Hence, it was necessary to highlight some case studies of societies to investigate the true weight of religious motives, particularly Islam, compared to other secular causes in triggering sectarianism in societies. It is concluded that in most cases, religious motives have been shown to be interwoven with other political, economic, cultural, and social factors whose historical roots vary over time. Here, the true role of religion arises to address these shortcomings and amend the course of humanity towards peace and goodness.
