Freedom of belief at the crossroad of civilisations - an Islamic perspective and its impact on Africa : the cases of Egypt and Nigeria

Abstract

"This study focuses on the impediment that suffers freedom of belief, which goes beyond religious belief and its manifestation, as a result of clashes of civilisations, and their consequences mainly on the horizontal level, on the African continent. The central thesis of the work is [to] see whether Islam is a monolith, or if there exist different standards of the freedom of belief in Islamic context from that guaranteed in international human rights instruments. ... This paper is constructed around five main chapters. The first contains the research question; the second the position of Islam towards people of other faiths through its main sources. The third chapter exposes how Islam is, [in] one way or the other, used to withstand freedom of belief in the international arena, and how, in some isolated cases, freedom of belief of Muslims was violated because of scepticism about Islam. The fourth chapter shows the negative impact of such clashes on the African continent illustrated by two countries: Egypt and Nigeria. And the last chapter is dedicated to the conclusion and recommendation." -- Introduction.