Acknowledgment of Religious Diversity in Islamic and Catholic Teachings in Relation to the Position of Public Office

Through recourse to the Islamic and Christian heritage, we come to realize that there is no narration that speaks directly on particular matters such as the management of public affairs. Hence, in order to investigate this topic, one must begin from a much more general perspective and subsequently narrow down the scope of research so that one gradually arrives closer to the subject that is to be investigated. This necessitates that we attempt to identify the Islamic and Christian view on the topic through certain general frameworks. For this very reason, initially we will look at principles related to human interactions: general principles such as human nobility, alongside the principle of justice, and as well as associated principles like the Golden Principle and principle of goodness. However, these principles as well cannot aid us in arriving at a certain conclusion on the topic. The most these principles can do for us is provide us with a very general criterion for the general socio-political rights that are to be given to followers of other religions, but thereafter we still remain in need of a more extensive discussion. In the process of moving from that general framework to a more concentrated discussion, we encounter four general principles in religious discourse – especially in Islam – that have significant influence on our topic. The four principles are as follows: Principle of Resolution and Peace and Principle of Superiority and “Closing the Path” and Principle of Association and Friendship without Hatred and Principle of Coexistence and Citizenship. Through this discussion, it will become clear that by analyzing and understanding the Islamic religious texts, we can arrive at the aforementioned conclusion. Likewise, we will observe that through the Christian texts we can arrive at a similar conclusion with much more ease. These texts do not only stand in opposition to this conclusion or negate them, but rather he general principles within Christianity affirm and emphasize them. The Islamic and Christian sources are conflated with one another in their similar conclusion which is: respect for religious minorities and granting them general rights, especially the right to manage the general public affairs, and that the fundamental condition in Islam and Christianity is to maintain the religious identity of one another and prohibition of violating and transgressing against them and on the group of believers.