In the face of an increasingly globalized world and greater religious plurality, scholars and theologians of various religious traditions inevitably have to address the question of salvation of the religious other. What does Islam say about the soteriological fate of non-Muslims? Although Muslim encounters with the religious other are not solely a modern phenomenon, and contemporary Muslim thinkers have not been completely aloof to the phenomenon of religious plurality, until recently no detailed survey of Muslim perspectives on the salvation of the religious other had been carried out. In his earlier monograph, Islam and the Fate of Others (Oxford, 2012), Mohammad Hassan Khalil undertook that task and delineated the responses of well-known Muslim thinkers in the classical and modern periods of Islam. There Khalil showed that a majority of Muslim scholars have been neither pluralists (asserting that several religious traditions can be salvific) nor exclusivists (asserting that only their own religious tradition leads to salvation) but instead inclusivists (asserting that although it is one's own path that takes a person to heaven, “sincere outsiders” can also qualify for salvation).

Between Heaven and Hell is an admirable supplement to that earlier study. Based on papers presented by Muslim scholars and Islamicists at a symposium held at the University of Illinois in 2010, it delves into various dimensions of the salvation question. In addition to the foreword by Tariq Ramadan and the editorial introduction by Khalil, the book is divided into six parts. With the exception of the last, each part contains two chapters.

For the purpose of this review, it seems best to distinguish between the contributions of Muslim and non-Muslim scholars. While the Muslim contributions to the volume are, in general, examples of constructive Muslim theology, the Islamicists contribute insightful essays that are historical-textual (A. Kevin Reinhart, David Freidenreich), sociological (Marcia Hermansen), sociopolitical (Bruce Lawrence), and feminist (Jerusha Lamptey). For example, Reinhart argues that the exclusion of non-Muslims from the practice of shariʿa by the Muʿtazila and Ashʿariyya amounted to Islamic “triumphalist universalism,” and Freidenreich provocatively claims that “when medieval Muslims talk about non-Muslims, often enough, they are not really talking about non-Muslims at all” (256).

On the Muslim side, analysis of the salvation question is predominantly scriptural and theological, and occasionally hermeneutical (Sajjad Rizvi) and philosophical (Muhammad Legenhausen). The diversity of projects and points of view of these scholars immediately stands out: T.J. Winter equates pluralism and paganism; Yasir Qadhi's reading of the Qurʾan leads to the rejection of soteriological pluralism; perennialists Reza Shah-Kazemi and William Chittick argue for a Qurʾanic reading in which a hermeneutic of mercy dominates and leads to universality; Muhammad Fadel discusses examples of Muslim modernists’ liberal inclusivism (crediting the liberal democratic ambience for this achievement); Legenhausen, as a philosopher of religion, makes a case for “non-reductive pluralism;” and Farid Esack, in his discussion of the portrayal and soteriological fate of Jews in the Qurʾan, argues for the plurality of interpretations and the significance of historicizing the Qurʾanic text. In an intriguing move, Esack shifts this discussion about the salvation of Jews in the hereafter to the saving of today's natural resources and animals (i.e., the “non-human other,” 231).

There are several strengths to this volume. First, the list of contributors is impressive. Second, it offers almost the complete spectrum of contemporary Muslim responses to the salvation question. Third, the essays reflect the strong convictions of their writers and demonstrate deep concern and thoughtfulness about the stakes in the debate. And fourth, the scriptural, theological, and philosophical essays by Muslim scholars and theologians of various religious and intellectual viewpoints are complemented quite well by the Islamicist scholars’ discussions of relevant Muslim texts, experiences, and lived sociopolitical realities.

The writings of Farid Escak, William Chittick, and Reza Shah-Kazemi in this volume and elsewhere clearly reflect genuine interest in the religious other and theological commitment to pluralism or universalism, thereby problematizing David Freidenreich's conclusion that “the contemporary debate among Islamic theologians regarding the salvation of non-Muslims . . . is not about non-Muslims but rather about differing conceptions of Islam” (269). Yet this compilation reveals that Freidenreich's statement still carries abundant truth and therefore must guide future conversations on Muslim perspectives on the fate of the religious other. It is hoped that future conversations on the salvation question will include case studies of historical Muslim encounters with the religious other.