This, I feel, is a great article on the inherent nature of secularism and how it permeated and affected Muslims in the post-colonization era. This is a must read for every individual (especially Pakistanis) as we look towards solutions in terms of political stability and identifying our ideology. This article doesn't touch upon the decay of the western societies (in all spheres be it economic, social or moral) due to their secular ideologies, but perhaps that is a discussion for later. This is a Muslim narrative and explains why the Western experience of secularism cannot ever be reconciled with ours. *The secular extremists* /Quantum note/
Friday, March 13, 2009 Dr Muzaffar Iqbal 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. Source: http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=166832 -- Linda *http://freedetainees.org <http://freedetainees.org/> "If we shadows have offended, Think but this, and all is mended, That you have but slumber'd here While these visions did appear..." - William Shakespeare * --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "bangla-vision" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/bangla-vision?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
