The Religion Research Institute

We live in a time when knowledge is constantly increasing. Archeology and the study of ancient manuscripts discovered in the Middle East give us a constant flow of information concerning the ancient religions which existed during the time of Mohammed. When we read these documents in the original languages or in well-researched translations it enables us to understand the roots of Islam better than at any other time in history.

Not only is this knowledge of great interest to the scholar, but it is vital for every Muslim today, since it reflects on the veracity and credibility of what was taught, and what is believed. Moreover, in a connected world where people seek harmony and peaceful engagement, the Religion Research Institute seeks to educate non-Muslims who are studying Islam from historical point of view.

We see the Religion Research Institute as an open channel to serve everyone, by making knowledge and understanding accessible. We do this with complete sincerity and openness. In order to be helpful, research in any field must be characterized by straightforwardness and frankness. If a hospital doctor hides the results of his patient investigation, the diagnosis becomes obscure and both the hospital and the patient are misled. Similarly, researchers of religion must be frank and straightforward if they are to contribute genuinely to those who need the benefits of their research.

Therefore, we ask the Muslim community to see us as friends trying to serve, and not as antagonists with our own agenda and motives. As any honest researcher, we want to shed light on historical facts, and provide the serious seeker with data and tools. We strive to document our data. We invite the serious researcher to examine the references we present in our articles to verify what we share. Furthermore, we constantly seek to learn and revise our data in light of newer research. For example, we are working on second editions for some of our books.

Comparative religion is recognized as an important academic discipline throughout all academic institutions in the world. Therefore, we are working on providing content from other worldviews. For example, one of our categories is textual criticism of the Quran. We also provide textual criticism of the Bible. The term “textual criticism”, as with other branches of literary criticism, does not contain any negative implication. In fact, it is a scientific term that describes an academic methodology or scholarship to study variants in ancient manuscripts. We use the same methodology on both the Bible and the Quran.