Secular State: Solution or a Delusion?

A discourse on Secular Fundamentalism

Secularity, generally, stands for a way of life in which religious thinking, practice, and institutions lose their social significance. It should not be, though, confused with atheism because secularity does not stop a Christian, a Jew, or a Hindu from going to church, synagogue, or temple.

Secularity also implies substitution of traditional religious institutions, like the church, with a civil religion (Bellah, 1967). In the U.S. for example, traditionally marriage was performed in church, officiated by a cleric. The same function has been taken over by the City Hall, which verifies the blood group of the would-be bride & bridegroom and issues a marriage certificate. As an alternate way of life, secularity can be called a pseudo-religion or even a dogma, due to claiming ultimacy for the secular social reality. Secularity also stands for dualism in life.

It divides space and time into two distinct categories: secular and religious or holy. All that pertains to worship and devotion is lumped together under religion. And all that relates to trade, commerce, political struggle, human rights violation, art, and culture is defined as worldly or secular. This divide is inherent in some religious and epistemic traditions such as Christianity.

Islam does not call itself a religion or madhhab (the Arabic word used for religion). It does not separate between the so-called worldly or religious activities. Trade and commerce, farming, inventing a chemical or bio-medical cure for a problem and even fighting against violations of human rights of any people, are integral parts of din (the way of life). The uniqueness of Islam as din is the most commonly neglected aspect of Islam in the scholarly religious studies.

Islam is a kind of its own and deserves to be studied in its own right and not with a Eurocentric concept of it as an Asian religion.

Muslims as well as non-Muslims who are brought up in the Eurocentric paradigm of knowledge, based on their Eurocentric understanding of religion, first look at Islam as a religion and not as din. Then, in view of the European understanding of religion as dogma and theocracy, claim Islam should have nothing to do with the so-called secular society and state. They never realize that since their first premise is not correct, their conclusion cannot be right. This and some related confusions are the reason for this essay to emerge.

Another important factor that has contributed a lot to this confusion is the continuation of the colonial intellectual heritage among the Muslim elite. They have no idea how deeply they have been influenced due to over two hundred years of internalization of colonialism. They think and visualize with the mind of the former colonialist. Instead of applying tools of analysis, objective and critical thinking, they blindly follow the social constructs of their former political and economic exploiters.

The Algerian Muslim intellectual Bennabi (1905–1973) very appropriately calls this phenomenon colonizability, i.e., accepting wilfully or unconsciously the ways of the colonizers with pride. In Pakistan and several Muslim countries with a colonial historic baggage, the establishment, judiciary, and lawmakers, and intellectuals follow religiously the Eurocentric framework of thought, assuming no involvement of “religion” in politics, economics, and society.

Since Christianity as a religion is supposed to be a personal faith, they think Islam should also be no more than a personal faith; they assume Muslims, like their fellow Christians, may have one holy day for their rituals, while the rest of the days follow secular ways and social practices as prevalent in Europe  or America.

They are also convinced that one major reason for development in the West is its dualism of the religious and the secular. Religion to them means backwardness, rigidity and intolerance. Secularity they think brings enlightenment, progress and development.

The present essay is an attempt to first understand, as objectively as possible, the mind of the colonized elite or the neo-colonists, as Bennabi calls them. Second try to understand the nature of Islam as it is in the Qur’an and the Sunnah, and not as any Muslim or non-Muslim scholars look at it. Frequent reference is made to Eurocentric epistemology in a non-technical language. This is simply an intellectual dialogue and an exchange of understanding at a conceptual level. The author believes the difference of opinion is always a blessing.

The purpose of this discourse on “Secular State: Solution or a Delusion” is also to understand the dimensions of secularism as a pseudo-religion and a major source of tension and conflict between the neo-colonialist intellectuals and the masses. A reference is made to Pakistan in order to illustrate the concept of Pakistan as conceived by the founding fathers of the country. The author believes a healthy and dignified dialogue must continue between seekers of knowledge in order to achieve intellectual clarity and understand the impact of deep-rooted westernization and colonization on our culture, society, and political economy of Pakistan and several Muslim countries.

This essay in its initial stage was discussed with Professor Khurshid Ahmad (1932–2025), a great strategic thinker, economist, parliamentarian, and institution builder of the twenty-first-century Muslim world. He appreciated the idea and encouraged me to publish it. It is my honor to dedicate it to him because he was a mentor of a generation of young Muslim intellectuals.

I also appreciate the assistance and encouragement I received from my wife Anisa and my children Dr. Sumaiyah and Yasir in going through the manuscript and coming up with valuable suggestions. I thank Mr. Huzaifa and Mr. Mushtaq for typing and re-typing the manuscript. I am also grateful to Mr. Shahid Awan for his personal interest in undertaking the publication of this essay.