Should Muslims respect the other religions?

Answer 1

Regardless of what Islamic custom or law might say, it is in the interest of Muslims to respect other religions if only so that they are respected in return. There would be no reason for a Non-Muslim to respect Islam or Muslims if Muslims hold them and their beliefs in disregard. Additionally, it is also a commendable thing to respect what makes us different as individuals and groups as it fosters peace and cooperation.

However, if you are looking exclusively to Islamic custom or law, Islam's perspective on different religions depends entirely on the contents of those religions.

Islam generally holds that Judaism and Christianity are acceptable religions, even though Islam is preferred, since those two religions came out of the same Divine Revelations that form the core of Islam. Other henotheistic religions, such as Zoroastrianism and the various Arabian henotheistic faiths were looked upon with general derision, because they accepted weaker partners of God, but somewhat tolerated because there were just too many of them to kill. Polytheistic or nontheistic faiths such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, etc. are seen as completely incorrect and unacceptable religions since they reject the idea that God is one.

Islam does not have a clear perspective on Sikhism and the Post-Islamic religions. In the case of Sikhism, Islamic scholarship is not entirely certain as to whether Sikhism is close enough to Islam to be considered something similar to Judaism and Christianity or whether it is closer to Hinduism and should be condemned. Concerning the Post-Islamic religions, Islamic scholarship typically does not recognize the existence of such religions because they believe that doing so would indicate that they believe that Mohammed was not the final prophet (even though they could easily recognize these ideas as heresies). However, the attitudes that Islamic Scholars have taken informally with respect to Post-Islamic religions like Ahmadiyya, Alawites, Baha'i, Yazdanism, and others show a general rejection of the validity of those religions because those religions assert that Islam can be expanded or improved on.