Secularism

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.