Islam and Christianity
Islam, which had an early presence in the west coast of India as early as the 10th century gained a foothold in Karnataka with the arrival of the Bahmani Sultanate and Adil Shahi dynasty, which ruled parts of Karnataka.
Christianity reached Karnataka in the 16th century with the arrival of the Portuguese and St. Francis Xavier in 1545.
Today, Islam and Christianity have a sizable following in Karnataka and have contributed to the cultural cosmopolitanism of the state.
Read more about this topic: Religion In Karnataka
Famous quotes containing the words islam and, islam and/or christianity:
“Awareness of the stars and their light pervades the Koran, which reflects the brightness of the heavenly bodies in many verses. The blossoming of mathematics and astronomy was a natural consequence of this awareness. Understanding the cosmos and the movements of the stars means understanding the marvels created by Allah. There would be no persecuted Galileo in Islam, because Islam, unlike Christianity, did not force people to believe in a “fixed” heaven.”
—Fatima Mernissi, Moroccan sociologist. Islam and Democracy, ch. 9, Addison-Wesley Publishing Co. (Trans. 1992)
“During the first formative centuries of its existence, Christianity was separated from and indeed antagonistic to the state, with which it only later became involved. From the lifetime of its founder, Islam was the state, and the identity of religion and government is indelibly stamped on the memories and awareness of the faithful from their own sacred writings, history, and experience.”
—Bernard Lewis, U.S. Middle Eastern specialist. Islam and the West, ch. 8, Oxford University Press (1993)
“It is our taste that decides against Christianity now, no longer our reasons.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)