ABSTRACT
In his keynote address as organizer of the panel on ‘Muslim societies over the centuries: symbiosis and conflict in comparative perspectives’ at the 19th International Congress of Historical Sciences in Oslo, 7–13 August 2000, Professor Sato Tsugitaka drew a distinction between two themes; namely, ‘Muslim societies in Islamic and Middle Eastern studies’, and ‘Muslim societies in the Middle East and its adjacent regions’. He chose the first for the panel because he wanted emphasis to be placed on how scholars in Islamic and Middle Eastern studies view the relationship between majorities and minorities in Islamic societies. Do they view minorities objectively within a given historical context, or do they emphasize symbiosis over conflict, or conflict over symbiosis among communities? Given the spread of conflict nowadays among ethnic and religious communities in many parts of the world and the different interpretations offered by historians, it would be useful to have a fresh look at how majorities and minorities have related to each other in Muslim societies over the centuries.
