The purpose of the present study is to survey and analyze a substantial body of Sunnī Muslim tradition relevant to the notions of religious tolerance and coercion, religious diversity, hierarchy of religions, the boundaries of the Muslim community and the ramifications of all these on several topics in classical Islamic thought and law. I have made wide us of the ḥadīth collections and of exegesis on the relevant Qurʾānic verses. An attempt has been made to cover the views of the four madhāhib and, at times, of Ibn Ḥazm. I have tried to make wide use of the most representative works of each madhhab. It was not possible to refer to all relevant passages in the various sources: this would cause the footnotes to reach unmanageable proportions. It has been my primary goal to represent faithfully the views attributed to the classical traditionists and jurisprudents, and to evoke the atmosphere prevalent in the primary sources. To achieve this objective, I have frequently allowed the sources speak for themselves and have translated the more significant passages in their entirety. Some of the topics that were treated only briefly deserve independent monographs, but attempting this was not possible in the framework of this study. Wherever necessary because of dense print or large page format, I have indicated line numbers to enable the interested readers to locate the references as easily as possible.