Religion, dīn, and Islam: A Complex Web
In: Transformation of Religion
Author:
Rüdiger Lohlker
Rüdiger Lohlker
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Abstract
Thinking about religion is confronted with several problems. Is religion a term to be applied in every religious tradition? Are there other concepts used as an equivalent for religion? Is the meaning of the terminology used transhistorical or not? The contribution argues that in Arabic there is a term dīn indicating a complex and ambiguous meaning before modernity and adapting to the all-encompassing meaning of religion influenced by the colonial domination of meaning at a global level.