‘Din Al-Fitrah’ According To al-Faruqi and His Understandings about Religious Pluralism

Abstract

Religious pluralism has become one of the significant issues in the field of religion and theology. Among the major issues highly debated by the theologians are fortuity of birth, salvation and truth, and the status of the People of the Book. This article discusses ‘din al-fitrah’ according to Ismail Raji al-Faruqi and his understanding about religious pluralism. The finding suggests two things: first is that al-Faruqi attempts to highlight that all religions were once rooted from a true religion or ‘din al-fitrah’- the term coined by al-Faruqi. Nevertheless, all the religions have gone astray from their true paths due to many factors throughout their historical journeys. Of all, only Islam remains in its original form and does not change until the day of resurrection; second is that al-Faruqi denies the idea that truth is found in all religions – the idea which is established by some theologians while debating religious pluralism.