IRCICA PUBLICATIONS 1980-2012

CULTURAL RELATIONSA CULTURE OF PEACEFULCOEXISTENCEPrepared and preface by Ekmeleddin İhsanoğluİstanbul, 2004 (in English)ISBN 92-9063-141-4This treatise is a revised and expanded version of a lecturepresented at the East-West Forum organized by the US basedEast-West Institute’s Eurasia Strategy Group and IRCICAand held on 19 October 2002 at IRCICA, İstanbul. This studyfocuses on the Islamic culture of peaceful coexistence withparticular reference to the history of Islamic civilization andespecially in the Ottoman world. in the introductory chapter theauthor deals with the conceptual framework and the philosophybehind the religious-cultural pluralism in the Islamic tradition.The following chapter demonstrates the tolerant attitude ofIslam towards Jews and Christians (the Ahl al-Kitab). One alsofinds a brief discussion of the earliest example of pluralism inIslam, i.e. The Medina Constitution which was promulgated bythe Prophet after his emigration from Mecca to Medina in 622A.D. There are also examples of pluralism during the period ofthe four caliphs, a discussion of the Ottoman millet system, anoutline of the developments that occurred after the declarationof the Imperial Rescript of Tanzimat in 1839, etc. The lastchapter of the work gives three living examples of religiousculturalpluralism and peaceful coexistence of various faiths andcultures from İstanbul. in the epilogue the study underlines thesignificance of the peaceful coexistence of peoples of differentfaiths and cultures for today’s world where there is a great needfor peace. This work has a total of 26 colored and black andwhite illustrations.Price: US$ 10 (including post)IRCICA PUBLICATIONS 1980-2012 29