Secularism, the belief that religion and religious considerations should
be deliberately omitted from public and private temporal affairs, is a
direct outgrowth of the philosophical ideas which begat European
humanism. Its appearance in the post-Renaissance west is logical,
historically founded, and socially well-constructed. Even though it
continues to find small pockets of resistance in certain religious
communities living in the west, it pervades public life in all
respects--from education to politics and from economy to culture.
Secularism is not necessarily unethical, for it can have an ethical
content, but the main consideration in all things secular is the absence
of the sacred. That is to say the absence of anything higher than the
humanly construed or humanly imagined. As such, it is a system of
beliefs that seeks to replace revealed religions and, in time, it has
become a religion itself, that is a pseudo religion, for it has no
foundational texts which are universally revered, and no prophets whose
words and deeds are cherished by the believers.
Since the very idea of eliminating religion from public life is an
extreme idea, secularism is inherently extreme. That is to say it is
intolerant, consistently severe in its application, and patently violent
in its rigidity. Another aspect of its extremism is its inherent revolt
against God. As a system of beliefs competing with revealed religions,
secularism is on the extreme end of the spectrum; it refuses to accept
any Creator and hence any causal factor in the affairs of the universe
or of humans that is higher than what human beings can themselves
construe. Thus, all natural phenomena are construed as merely the result
of constant, predictable forces; no miracles are allowed; and all
affairs of human beings are construed in a fashion that excludes all
considerations drawn from belief in God or in a future existence.
Secularism arrived in most regions of the Muslim world along with the
European colonizers who were able to entrench it in education and state
systems. Since then, it has made steady progress, not only in the former
colonies, but also elsewhere. This steady growth of secularism now
pervades all aspects of state and governance in many Muslim countries
and is most visible in the educated classes. But unlike the western
world, the Muslim world could not cast Islam out of its public domain;
Islam remains the most visible phenomena in public life all over the
Muslim world: it is apparent in architecture (the mosques, the
minarets), in the sounds (the call for prayer), in the rituals (the
fasting, the hajj), in public festivals and thousand and one other
aspects of public life. As a result, a "secular Muslim"--a contradiction
in terms--has an irresolvable dilemma at hand: he or she cannot fight
with the enormity of Islamic presence in the public life, and yet,
cannot live with it.
The easiest escape route for secular Muslims is to find faults with the
bearded men and hijabi women--and there are plenty of reasons to blame
them. However, no amount of criticism of the outwardly religious public
or private figures can resolve the fundamental crisis of a person
afflicted with secularism. The degree of affliction directly corresponds
to the extent to which one has become secularized. When such persons
attain power through whatever means, they attempt to remove Islam
through force. A classic case in point is that of Mustafa Kemal of
Turkey, who should never be called Ata Turk, the fathers of the Turks,
for Turks have never accepted him as their father or god-father.
What Kemalism did to Turkey was so violent that it shook the very
foundation of Turkish society. Turkey is still trying to recover from
his extremism. It was not merely the cold-blooded execution of thousands
of citizens who remained firm believers, nor the violent attacks against
religious institutions, nor the banning of veil and beards, but the very
act of trying to turn the entire direction of Turkish society toward
Europe that created the greatest fissure with history. The result is a
traumatized populace. Yet, at the same time, Kemalism was indirectly
responsible for the emergence of a more vigorous and stronger commitment
to Islam in a large section of Turkish populace.
Admittedly, not all secularists are as extreme as Mustafa Kemal, but
since secularism is inherently extreme, no secularist can escape its
extremism. Muslim secularists have also to constantly fight with the
questions pertaining to afterlife. Their beliefs are thus confused,
incoherent, for they are the riders of two boats going in opposite
directions. But these individuals are not as dangerous as those who wish
to impose secularism as state ideology on a Muslim populace. That form
is the most violent and intolerant pseudo-religion, for it is a revolt
against God and history.
Since attempts to enforce the secular writ are often done with a
characteristic claim of freedom, it is pertinent to point out that
freedom is not the ability to do whatever one's whims dictate, but it is
the ability to conquer one's whims and allow a higher order of life and
virtue to prevail. Golden balance, a sure cure for extremism, is to be
found in that higher realm directed from beyond the human domain through
the agency of a prophet in the form of a revealed religion.
