AboutDrs. Kersten Expertise Islamic History Islamic Philosophy Contemporary Islamic Thought Jihad Doctrine Islam in Southeast Asia Sufism Mysticism Political Islam Islam in the Netherlands Progressive Muslims Moderate Muslims Contemporary Muslim Thinkers Islamic Studies Islamicists or Islamologists
Experience Tertiary educator and academic researcher. Contributing Author to a textbook on world religions (Linda Chisholm (ed.) VISIONS OF SERVICE. New York: IPS-L Press, 2004).
Degrees in Arabic and Islamic Studies, as well as Southeast Asian Studies; Sworn translator of Arabic.
More than fifteen years experience as an expatriate studying, working and teaching in four countries on three different continents.
Academic and journalistic writings have appeared in learned journals, current affairs periodicals, and the news media in the USA, Europe, Australia, and Asia.
Question How is it that Christ is considered a prophet in the Holy Book but would be considered an infidel for his Jewish faith today? Also, the people who followed Christ and started the first "Christian" church. How can you follow a prophet of Allah and be considered an infidel?
Answer Jews and Christians are NOT considered infidels (Kuffar), but Peoples of the Book (Ahl al-Kitab), a category referring to believers in the same deity who has revealed himself through scripture. The only contention made by Muslims against Jews and Christians is their refusal to recognize the Prophet Muhammad as the completion of that prophetic process (that is why he is called 'Seal of the Prophets' by Muslims), and thus adhering to a 'failed version' of the true faith. Jews, Christians, and Muslims can therefore be considered as part-taking in the unfolding of one and the same religious tradition, commencing with the creation of Adam and receiving an important boost with the appearance of Abraham. That is why these three monotheistic religions are often referred to as the Abrahamic religions.
It is a rather the later theological and political-religious histories of Judaism, Christianity and Islam that created the antagonism that is now marring the relations among the three faiths.
