The Secularization of Islam

What is Secularism?

Secularism is the process of the substitution of the worship of God by the worship of man in social lifeworld. All modern, postmodern and meta-modern social orders are characterized by secularization.

Secularization has its roots in ancient history. Ancient Greece was a thoroughly secularized society as was classical Rome. The secularization of the Christian social lifeworld was first justified by Augustine who formulated the theory of the two Swords – the separation of the kingdom of God from the kingdom of man. The scientific revolution of the 17th century and the Enlightenment movement of the 18th century justify capitalist secularization.

Capitalism is both a system and a lifeworld. It seeks to create a distinct individuality, society and state. Capital is takathur (تکاثر) (translated by Maulana Muhammad Pickthal as “rivalry in worldly increase”) the vices of avarice (حرص) and jealousy (حسد). It seeks to make capital accumulation – the articulation/practice of hirs and hasad the motivational force of all action.

Historically the creation of capitalist individuality has been problematic. Mankind by its nature rejects the total domination of avarice and jealousy. This is especially so as far as personal life is concerned. Postmodern capitalism therefore concedes that the organization of personal life cannot be subjected to rationality. Capitalism tolerates the presence of religion in the personal sphere while relentlessly trying to distort the religious discourse to accommodate capitalist practices.

What is Islamic Secularism?

Islamic secularism is the subjection of Islamic society and state to the evil force of capital in general (hirs and hasad) . The first attempt to secularize the Islamic lifeworld flourished in the 8th to 10th century. This movement was led by heretics such as Al-Farabi, Ibn-e-Sina, and Ibn Rushd but our lord and master Imam Ghazali (may Allah bless him) completely demolished their arguments and Islamic society and state remained safe from this evil.

Imperialism has sought to secularize Islamic social life since the 19th century. The leaders of this movement in the past were Ziya Gokalp in Turkey, Taha Hussain in Egypt and Sir Syed in India. Today it is led by people such as Javed Ghamidi, Waheed-ud-Din Khan and Nejatullah Siddiqui – all agents of American imperialism.
The main social and political ideology for secularizing the Islamic lifeworld is Muslim nationalism. Muslim nationalism postulates the following doctrines.

a. Muslims are a nation. The concept of the Ummah is obsolete and un-operationalable in the modern/ postmodern world.

b. Islam is exclusively a cultural marker, practically equivalent to modern Christianity. As a cultural artifact, it has no specific legal, epistemological, or political articulation.

c. States governed by Muslims have national interests similar to those of states governed by the kuffar.

d. Heretics such as Farabi, Ibn-e-Sina, and Ibn Rushd were the precursors of Modernity.

e. Islam should be subsumed within the capitalist order as Christianity, Judaism, and Hinduism have been subsumed. The route to this subsumption have been indicated by the practice of Islamic democracy and Islamic banking and finance.

f. Islamic “decline” should be redressed not by seeking to bring the kuffar within the orbit of Islam but by rationalizing Islam since in the secularists’ view rationality is value-neutral. Islamic epistemological paradigms cannot comprehend and contest issues raised by modernity/postmodernity.

How to fight Islamic Secularization?

It is necessary to fight Islamic secularization because all the dogmas of Muslim nationalism are false. Muslims are an Ummah, not a nation. Islam is both a system and lifeworld – not just a cultural identity marker – with its own laws, epistemological paradigms, and political institutionalization. Farabi and Ibn Sina were heretics as are their contemporary followers. Their thought has repeatedly been rejected by the orthodox Ulema. The Islamic state is a Jihadi state which seeks global hegemony. Its subsumption within the capitalist international order is inconceivable in the light of Islamic historic traditions. We do not accept that rationality is value-neutral. The capitalist world order is hurtling towards its own destruction with the intensification of ecological, environmental, epistemological, financial, economic, moral and mental health crises. Enlightenment thought sought to create a heaven on earth. In reality it has created a hell.

Islamic secularization is posing a serious threat to Islamic orthodoxy. Islamic reformist groups – such as the Talighi Jamat and the Dawat-e-Islami – continue to ignore the secularization threat and remain confined in artificial isolated enclosures. Islamic political parties nurture the myths of Islamic democracy. Their political agendas are full of nationalistic and social democratic practices. Secular charlatans such as Imran Khan continue to deceive the Muslim masses by mouthing Islamic slogans. Ulema such as Maulana Taqi Usmani endorse the Islamic legitimation of riba and gharar (interest and speculation-based finance).
On the other hand, the secularization of the Pakistani lifeworld proceeds slowly. The masses’ commitment to Islamic values and symbols (شعار) remains exceptionally strong. Islamic knowledge and spiritual focus systems remain untainted by modernist filth, thanks to the work of the maslaki congregations and despite the frantic periodic assaults of the imperialists and their local stooges. Two Islamic states – Iran and Afghanistan – have been established. Both of which have institutionalized Shariah and the prospects for the establishment of Islamic state in parts of Palestine, Central and West Africa are brightening. Yet the fight against secularization remains under conceptualized, unorganized and episodic. As Islamic revolutionaries it is our task to:

a. Look at modernity, postmodernity, and capitalism with Islamic eyes, expose their epistemological incoherencies and systemic contradictions and under the guidance of the Ulema and the Sufia develop a definitive Islamic critique of capitalist thought and practices.

b. Institutionalize and organize a system of production and exchange external to the circuit of capital to expand the possibilities for the earning of rizq-e-halal through promotion of self-employment and entrepreneurship. The scope for doing this is significant in Pakistan where a large majority of informal and unorganized businesses are outside the domain of the capital and money markets. We must seek to set up a tamveeli framework to facilitate Muslim youth and businessmen to enter IT, retail, transportation, and trading sectors without the need to access capitalist finance. We must encourage university graduates to form groups for the setting up of such businesses rather than seeking employment in capitalist enterprises.

c. We must agitate all Islamic groups (both political and non-political) to reject the “creeping” secularization that is unconsciously taking place within them. We must encourage them to come together on an anti – secularization program and gradually develop a systemic strategy for thwarting Muslim nationalism in its varied manifestations.