ABSTRACT
Christian–Muslim relations developed significantly in a number of areas during the encounter of European Christians with Muslims in the Mughal Empire in South Asia, beginning in the sixteenth century. Initially, the encounter was military, as the Portuguese arrived with the intention of taking control of the spice trade in the Indian Ocean, which had previously been dominated by Muslim traders. However, because the Mughals had no ambitions to control the seas and because the Portuguese likewise made no efforts to conquer the subcontinent, relations transformed from military confrontations to trade agreements in the economic sphere. With the decline of Mughal authority in the eighteenth century, the encounter once more became a political and military contest as European nations such as France and Britain sought to expand their influence and control. By the end of the Mughal dynasty in 1857, the British Empire had established itself as dominant, leading Muslim scholars to debate whether India had ceased to be dār al-Islām (domain of Islam) and had become dār al-ḥarb (domain of war).
