Open AccessMalaysia's Need for an Enlightened National Policy on Interreligious Peace: A Dictate of Maqasid al-Shari'ah
Author(s) -
Osman Bakar
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
islam and civilisational renewal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2041-8728
pISSN - 2041-871X
DOI - 10.52282/icr.v2i2.656
Subject(s) - diversity (politics) , ethnic group , race (biology) , religious diversity , population , political science , cultural diversity , law , sociology , religious studies , gender studies , ethnology , demography , philosophy
Malaysia's Need for an Enlightened National Policy on Interreligious Peace: A Dictate of Maqasid al-Shari'ah As a nation, Malaysia is characteristically pluralistic and diverse in its cultural makeup. It is precariously balanced in its ethnic and religious compositions displaying a distributive pattern of cultural diversity in its demographic map in a way that is matched by few countries. Its pattern of cultural diversity is particularly distinguished by the fact that there is a close identification of religion with race. Malaysia is only barely a Muslim-majority country. It has a large non-Muslim population comprised mostly of Buddhists, Hindus, and Christians. There are other religious minorities such as Confucians, Taoists, and Sikhs though these are much smaller in size.