cused on literary sources and doctrinal questions. Descrip-
tions of practices, largely drawn from ethnographic-type ob-
servations comparable to those found in the histories of
Herodotus, can be found in the large collection of travel ac-
counts produced by Arab and Muslim scholars in the medi-
eval period but continuing through to the nineteenth
century.
One of the best-known travelers is Ibn Bat:t:u ̄t:a (1304–
1368) who left from Tangiers and traveled throughout the
Middle East, East Africa, Asia Minor, Central Asia, India,
Sri Lanka, Bengal, Sumatra, and China. Ibn Bat:t:u ̄t:a’s travel
account, as well as those of many others, are expanded jour-
nals of pilgrimage journeys. During the travels described in
his account, Ibn Bat:t:u ̄t:a made pilgrimage to Mecca at least
four times. Ibn al-Jubayr (1145–1217) was one of the first
to leave a long account of his journeys in the Middle East
while on pilgrimage to Mecca, which includes his firsthand
observations on the beliefs and practices he encountered.
Travel accounts and guides written for pilgrims visiting re-
gional sites in Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine, such as those
of al-Haraw ̄ı and Ibn al-H:awra ̄n ̄ı, constitute a valuable re-
cord not only of Muslim practices and beliefs but also myths
and rituals associated with certain sites by other religious
groups in the area.
Other scholarship focused on geography includes a great
deal of information on religious practices and beliefs. Schol-
ars such as Ya ̄qu ̄ t, Ibn al-Faq ̄ıh, and al-Bakr ̄ı compiled geo-
graphical dictionaries that contain a wealth of information
derived from a variety of sources on the religious traditions
associated with certain cities, shrines, mountains, and places
of pilgrimage. Scholars such as al-Qazw ̄ın ̄ı produced works
examining the “wonders” (Eaja ̄Dib) of the world, compiling
and comparing mythologies associated with different loca-
tions, often utilizing historical, linguistic, and ethnographic
approaches. Other early “wonders” accounts focused specifi-
cally on India and China. Similar approaches can be found
in the large collection of works focused on the “virtues”
(fad:a ̄Dil) of cities such as Jerusalem, Damascus, and Mecca.
These fada ̄Dil works bring together from various types of
sources historical and mythological traditions associated with
the origins of sanctuaries, certain ritual practices, and beliefs
connected to particular peoples and locations.
JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN STUDIES OF ISLAM. Jewish and
Christian scholars also wrote extensively on Islam, and on
their own religions, not always with the simple aim of dis-
crediting others but rather in formation of their own distinct
identity. This is particularly true where the Muslim majority
was and is still in close contact with large non-Muslim mi-
norities, in Spain, Yemen, Egypt, Lebanon, and the Fertile
Crescent. Much of this went on in the area of comparative
scriptural exegesis, with Jews, Christians, and Muslims inter-
preting what amounts to a common scriptural tradition,
though the identity and authority of different texts (i.e.,
QurDa ̄n, Bible) was often the issue in such discussions. This
sort of more direct polemic continues today and is not often
overt, strongly influenced by perceptions of the political situ-
ation between Israel and the Palestinians.MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY STUDY OF RELIGION. In the
modern period, many state-sponsored and private universi-
ties include the comparative study of religion as part of the
regular curriculum. There are few independent departments
devoted to the comparative study of religion, with the excep-
tion of departments of daEwa (proselytizing) at some regional
universities. Separate departments of daEwa can be found at
some universities such as the Islamic University of Medina
and the Department of DaEwa and Religious Fundamentals
(us:u ̄l al-d ̄ın) founded in 1991 at the Umm al-Qura Universi-
ty of Mecca. The curriculum emphasizes the comparative
study of religions as a means to allow students to contextual-
ize their own religious traditions within a global religious
community.The Amir EAbd al-Qadir University in Constantine, Al-
geria has a Department of Creed and Comparative Religion
(al-EAq ̄ıdah wa Muqa ̄rinah al-Adya ̄n). Ain Shams University
in Cairo offers the comparative study of religious traditions
within the various language and literature departments in the
Faculty of Arts, including the languages of Islamic nations,
and Hebrew language and literature. The Center for Orien-
tal Studies at the University of Cairo offers a number of
courses and a publication series in Comparative Religion.
The University of Mauritius offers a degree program in histo-
ry and heritage studies that incorporates Islamic studies into
a broad spectrum of cultural and religious influences on
Mauritius history. Individual courses teaching Islamic
studies within a comparative, liberal arts framework can also
be found at the University of the United Arab Emirates, Sidi
Muh:ammad b. EAbdallah University in Fes, the American
University of Beirut, Sultan Qabus University in Musqat,
Bogazici University in Istanbul, and the American University
of Cairo.Us:u ̄ l al-d ̄ın. Other universities devote departments and
colleges to the general study of religion, within the frame-
work of an Islamic studies curriculum. The department of
us:u ̄l al-d ̄ın at the University of Jordan, for example, teaches
the standard subfields within Islamic studies, including al-
Milal wa al-Nihal studies as well as individual courses in
comparative religion and Muslim-Christian dialogue. A sim-
ilar curriculum exists university-wide at Omdurman Islamic
University in the Sudan, and al-Quds University in Jerusa-
lem includes an Islamic studies department within liberal arts
and a separate Islamic Research Center established in 1987
with a broad, comparative scope. Within its us:u ̄l al-d ̄ın facul-
ty, al-Azhar University offers a comparative curriculum de-
voted to the study of religions (Christianity, Judaism,
Hinduism, pre-Islamic Arab religions, Buddhism, Confu-
cianism, and ancient Egyptian religions) with courses exam-
ining the origins of religion, the connections between reli-
gion and society, and the history and importance of the study
of different religions from an Islamic perspective.8782 STUDY OF RELIGION: THE ACADEMIC STUDY OF RELIGION IN NORTH AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST