معرفت ادیان (Ma`rifat Adyan)

Mutual refutation writing between Muslims and Christians has been the most significant form of interreligious encounter in the Islamic realm since the early centuries of the Hijra. This style of writing constitutes a component of the science of milal wa niḥal (religions and sects), which sought to comprehend various religions and denominations. Despite this remarkable precedent among Muslims, the study of religions in contemporary academic circles is regarded as a purely empirical discipline with non-religious origins. In this article, employing a descriptive-analytical method and direct consultation of extant refutations by Muslim authors—particularly those against Christianity—we endeavor to highlight certain foundations and presuppositions of Muslim authors that could serve as a preamble to the formulation of an Islamic science of religions. Matters such as the possibility of certain knowledge, the validity of transmitted and rational knowledge, human free will and servitude, the common nature shared among human beings, divine unity (tawḥīd), the authority and incorruptibility of the Qur'an, and belief in the prophethood and infallibility of the divine prophets are among the most important presuppositions and foundations upon which Muslim refutation writers have relied and which could pave the way for presenting a desirable model in the Islamic science of religions vis-à-vis the Western science of religions.