Why Islam cannot be secular…it was never meant to be

medium nocaption116829380There are few things I find more amusing than the sight of mullahs waving the flag for secularism and mourning its demise.As someone who grew up in an Old Delhi Muslim neighbourhood where mullacracy ruled, I still have vivid memories of how much they hated secularism and secularists.And because they couldn’t stand secularism, which they denounced as an anti-religion ideology, they couldn’t stand the only truly secular force in the country: the Left.And I should know. Because my own mother, who was a Communist Party of India (CPI) activist, had a taste of their communal and misogynist campaign against her — portraying her as an agent of the Soviet Union.And they did this with more than a little help from the “secular” Congress. For much of its 70-year rule, the Congress and its right-wing Muslim power brokers played fast and loose with secularism — reducing the whole idea to a farce. medium109132572The right-wing Hindu backlash we are facing today is a direct result of this crass perversion of secularism. And those responsible for causing it are shouting the loudest over its demise.This rant is prompted by an essay written by a Muslim Australian academic, M Adil Khan, professor of development practice at the School of Social Science, University of Queensland, Brisbane, claiming that “Islam and secularism are perfectly compatible and are in conformity with each other”.The essay, published in Countercurrents magazine, “Is Secularism Incompatible With Islam And Vice Versa?”, has triggered an animated debate in Muslim circles.Khan’s cheery view of Islam is based on what he describes as the two “basic tenets” of Islam.One is the Qur’anic injunction (chapter 109, verse 6) “Lakum Di Nukum Walia Din” variously translated as “your religion is to you and mine to mine” and “to you be your religion, and to me my religion”.It is frequently cited as evidence of Islam’s emphasis on religious tolerance and freedom of belief — as “an example of the Quran’s teachings on religious pluralism and peaceful coexistence”, as Khan says.It is also routinely deployed as a rebuff to Islam’s critics who accuse it of promoting intolerance and extremism.And justice for allThe second tenet, he cites, is “insaaf” (justice) propagated by Islam’s Second Caliph, Hazrat Omar. It is said that when his commanders asked how to treat non-Muslim in conquered territories, he told them: “Govern them with Insaaf (justness).”Khan says: “(This) impressed non-Muslims of these newly conquered territories so much that many voluntarily converted to Islam.”On the basis of these two rather abstract and general edicts, Khan saheb goes on to build the argument that “Islam and secularism are perfectly compatible — and are in conformity with each other.” medium109132599Islam, he says, passes the so-called “Romila Thapar test” of secularism — namely the “functioning of the universe and human society without involving divine intervention”.Lest someone missed this, he repeats it ad nauseum — each time more loudly, as it were. I’m quoting him verbatim should something get lost in translation:“Islam’s two basic tenets of governance, namely, ‘Lakum Di Nukum Walia Din’ and Hazrat Omar’s governing principle ‘Insaaf’ are in sync and not in conflict with each other. Indeed, the most ideal way to govern societies, Islamic or otherwise, would be through the principles of justness (Insaaf) and religious tolerance (Lakum Di Nukum Walia Din), tenets that guarantee, as in secular democracies, fair and equal treatment of all citizens and protection as well as nurturing of religious values and rituals through promotion of inter-faith tolerance and mutual respect.”His attempt to co-opt the venerable Romila Thapar, a Marxist historian and faith-sceptic, would certainly make her cringe.A whole way of lifeIn his zeal to construct an edifice of secular Islam, he conveniently overlooks its inherently unsecular foundation. By the way, Islam itself has never claimed to be secular.It’s important to remember that it is not like any other normal religion restricted to a few rituals, and odd “dos” and “don’ts”. It is designed to be a whole way of life — a rigid system of practices that control every bit of your life 24x7, from the time you get up in the morning until you go to sleep.As it has grown and expanded, it has become more rigid with the spread of Saudi-style hardline Wahabbi Islam across the world, including India. medium109132639Well-known British Muslim scholar Ed Husain writes in his critically-acclaimed The House of Islam: A Global History that for the “devout Muslim, Islam’s divine touches leave an imprint on daily life”.And here is The Oxford Handbook of Secularism (2007) on the all-compassing influence of Islam on the lives of its followers.“From its very beginning, Islam has provided a comprehensive guide regulating all aspects of life from birth until death, including those in the political sphere. From the times of Prophet Muhammad, through various regimes and caliphates, up to the modern period, it has maintained a close connection between the state and religion. Most Muslims, at least in theory, have not accepted the idea of separation, particularly since non-separation has always been the norm.”Religion at its heartIslam can be liberalised to some extent by adjusting its outdated practices to the contemporary zeitgeist, and that’s already happening in some countries.But a “secular” Islam is an oxymoron. Islam simply doesn’t do secularism. The bottom line is that it cannot be secularised without sacrificing its essence.Because secularism means detaching religion from the public space, while Islam is all about religion dominating it.In its very elementary sense, secularism means that the state should strive to keep the public space free from religion and play the role of a neutral umpire vis-a-vis the followers of all faiths — even if the state itself has religious characteristics such as in Britain and America.Britain is a Christian state with the monarch bound by the obligation to protect Protestantism throughout the UK. But the public space is wholly secular. Christians don’t get any preferential treatment; nor are Christian practices imposed on non-Christians, or any area of public life. medium109132673Islam, however, doesn’t recognise the idea of a secular public space. Civil society is an extension of Islam. The mosque is the centre of Muslim civil society.That Islam and secularism are incompatible is acknowledged by many authoritative scholars like Egypt’s Yusuf al-Qaradawi who argue that Christianity is more comfortable with the idea of secularism because historically it has more or less maintained separation between state and religion.To highlight this is not to cast a slur on Islam. That’s how Islam was constructed, and, as pointed out earlier, it has never claimed to be secular. It is its apologists who make that claim on its behalf.Ultimately, the truth is that no religion is secular in the sense of not being covertly prejudiced against rival or competing faiths, all the good-goody stuff notwithstanding. Sadly, even Hinduism is losing its traditional open-mindedness.But that’s another debate. For another time.For now, Eid Mubarak to all.Images: Sajeev Kumarapuram/AIRead more from the author here.