The Qur'an and tolerance: An interpretive essay on Verse 5:48

A master narrative on the Qur'an's attitudes toward non-Muslims dominates both classical Qur'anic exegesis and orientalist studies. During the Meccan period of revelation, according to this narrative, the Qur'an's message is generally one of tolerance toward non-believers, whether polytheist Arabs or Jews and Christians. This position was dictated by the Muslim community's military weakness. But when Muhammad relocated to Medina the Qur'an becomes increasingly belligerent towards non-Muslims until finally, near the end of the revelation, it commands war against polytheists until they convert and against Jews and Christians until they submit to Muslim domination. In this essay, the author challenges this master narrative by studying the evolution of Qur'anic views on tolerance. He argues that if the Qur'anic text is considered as a whole, the apparently belligerent verses emerge as limited in scope and application while an ethic of pluralism (best expressed in Q. 5:48) is consistently upheld.