The Study of Religions in Premodern Muslim Civilization: Some Distinctions Concerning Its Disciplinary Status

Scholars have made contesting claims about the nature and scale of works on religions by Muslim scholars before modern times. The present paper explores various primary secondary sources, especially classical bibliographical indexes that scholarly tradition under scrutiny itself produced, classifies these into three types: (a) polemics, (b) authentic knowledge faith traditions or introduce methodological novelties but carry some degree apologetic undertone, (c) descriptive writings which resemble modern-day academic study religion. Based distinctions an assessment number in each type, maintains a sprouting studies existed pre-modern societies, introduced certain methodical such as comparative method, historiography, and, last not least, textual criticism, seems to heralded biblical respects. However, this could mature full-fledged discipline at par with many other branches flourished heyday civilization. These findings imply than one’s own is necessarily Western phenomenon. It can take root multiple cultural settings.