From Muhammad to Sulha

This chapter establishes the theoretical lens through which the case studies of third-party peacemakers in Judaism can be analyzed. The chapter begins by reviewing the study of religion and peacebuilding in general, and Judaism and conflict resolution in particular. Examples are provided of research conducted in religious peacebuilding and paradigmatic peacemakers in other religious traditions, such as the prophet Muhammad in Islam. In the second part of the chapter, the literature relating to traditional cultural models of conflict resolution and peacemaking is surveyed, focusing on the traditional Arab-Islamic process of sulha and how it compares to modern-Western models of conflict resolution and reconciliation.