Category Archives: Secularism

Islamic Forum Europe blogger misunderstands secularism

By Guest | Published: July 24, 2009

This is a guest post by al-Qanaas al-Masri

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Last week, a blogger on the website of Islamic Forum Europe, a Jamaat-e-Islami front organisation based in East London, weighed into the debate about the ethics of assisted suicide. Unfortunately the writer, one Nahid Mortuza, only showed succeeded in showing themselves hopelessly confused about what secularism is. Mortuza wrote:

“The news of Sir Edward Downes’ and his wife’s decision to end their lives at an assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland has once more brought forward a discussion on whether an individual should have the freedom and right to die at a time of their choosing, with assistance from others. Although I disagree with the notion, I understand the basis of the argument that the right to die should be as fundamental as the right to live.

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Also posted in Your View | Tagged , | 6 Comments

The hijab, Sarkozy and all that

By Zorro | Published: June 25, 2009

Sarkozy’s call for a ban on the veil has indeed opened up a number of issues and perspectives, even if he may well have had his own motives for doing so!

We have had the normal reaction on the left to condemn him, the reaction from the right in the UK to call for a ban and even claim Muslims support them and this has caused a little stir amongst Islamists.

iEngage for example originally followed the 1st electronic print of the Express article stating that Ghaffar Hussain from the Quilliam Foundation had stated that the Burka/Burqa was a cultural practice and not sanctioned in the Quran, but then went further and mistakenly claimed that he supported a ban. This has subsequently been “corrected”, by both the Express and iEngage.

A number of ancilliary discussions have persisted some of which are quite interesting, hypocritical and opportunistic.

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Also posted in Anti Fascism, Anti Muslim bigotry, Democracy, Ethics, Exegesis, Freedom of Expression, Hermeneutics, Human Rights, Islamism, Politics, Sharia | 4 Comments

Why Sharia doesn’t seek the Sharia to be enforced by the State

By Zorro | Published: June 17, 2009

It seems that the Islamists, and some anti-Islamists, are getting into the debate involving the implementation of Sharia with certain assumptions in mind.

1. There is such a thing as The Sharia!

This is simply not true. Muslim scholars do not have a single detailed rule of Sharia that they agree upon. They agree on broad principles which most humans do, but in general they do not agree on a single body of law which they call Sharia. They have loads of different interpretations on most aspects of their religious code – if not all. To give an example let’s take the rulings of alcohol and wine. Is wine or alcohol forbidden? If it is both or either, is there a punishment? If so, what is the punishment? If not then it is up to the authorities to criminalize or not – a process called Tazir. The fact is there is no consensus on such issues.

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Also posted in Ethics, Exegesis, Islamism, Sharia | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Malaysian Islamists Against Women

By Retired | Published: June 7, 2009

Malaysian opposition party, the PAS (Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party), has requested that the National Fatwa Council declare the Islamic women’s rights group Sisters In Islam (SIS) haram “if its activities activities is (sic) found to be contrary to the Islamic teachings and principles”; a clear call for them to be banned.

The call was made in a motion that was tabled by Shah Alam division at the party’s 55th general assembly here yesterday.

The motion which was adopted without debate also called on the fatwa council to investigate in full the activities of carried out by the organisation.

The division in its motion said the SIS’ activities were dangerous as they could cause confusion among the Muslims.

“We are aware that their approach can easily be accepted by the Muslims and this is dangerous as it can twist their aqidah, especially the young and those who went through the secular education,” it said.

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Also posted in Freedom of Expression, Human Rights, International Affairs, Islamism | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Europe’s faith hinges on its secularism

By Houriya | Published: June 6, 2009

The question: Is Europe’s future Christian?

[My piece was originally posted in Guardian's Comment is Free: Belief]

The influx of people from a variety of cultures to Europe has seen Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and others practicing their faith as they see fit. Coupled with these relatively new religious practices there is an increasing sense of a lack of faith amongst Christians.

Before the 17th century, Christian religious wars tore Europe apart. Partly, this bitter history has meant that Europe’s post-Westphalian political order has been based on secular and liberal visions for the organisation of society, intended to eradicate the prospect of religious conflicts. Disagreements between peoples of different faiths and belief systems are no longer defined and debated in theological terms, but on the democratic plane.

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Also posted in Freedom of Expression, Identity Politics | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The Secular State and Abdullahi An-Na’im

By Faisal | Published: June 4, 2009

Yesterday I was lucky enough to attend a talk delivered by the eminent scholar Professor Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im.

Professor Abdullahi Ahmed An-Naim

Professor Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im

An-Na’im is Professor of Law at Emory Univerity of Law. The Sudanese scholar currently lives and works in the US and specialises in the synergy and interdependence between human rights, secularism and Shari`a. In a thirty minute talk (followed by thirty minutes of Q&A) he compressed the ideas of forty years of study which he put together in his last book, Islam and the Secular State: Negotiating the Future of Shari`a.

Professor An-Na’im began by clearing the ground of misunderstanding and fallacy by setting forth definitions of ‘Secularism’, ‘State’, ‘Community’ and ‘Shari`a’. Secularism for An-Na’im does not mean atheism or humanism although he respects those who subscribe to these ideas. For him secularism is the formal seperation of religion from state institutions. He is in favour of the secular state not secularised society.

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Also posted in Democracy | Tagged | 2 Comments

Pakistan: an Islamic State since 1973

By Faisal | Published: May 30, 2009

A recent article by Ali Eteraz in Dissent Magazine deserves to be flagged up in the light of recent events.

Most people in the world, including some Pakistanis, live under the illusion that the country is secular and just happens to have been overrun by extremists. This is false. Pakistan became an Islamic state in 1973 when the new constitution made Islam the state religion. Under the earlier 1956 constitution Islam had been merely the “official” religion. Nineteen-seventy-three, in other words, represents Pakistan’s “Iran moment“—when the government made itself beholden to religious law. Most western observers missed the radical change because the leader of Pakistan at the time was Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, a whiskey-drinking, pseudo-socialist from a Westernized family. Those that did notice the transformation ignored it because the country was reeling from a massive military defeat in 1971, which led to half the nation becoming Bangladesh.

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Also posted in Islamism, Sharia | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Why a secular state

By Guest | Published: May 29, 2009

This is a guest post by Ibn Khaldun
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“In order to be a Muslim by conviction and free choice, which is the only way one can be a Muslim, I need a secular state.”

The above quote is taken from the book Islam and the Secular State by Sudanese academic and scholar Abdullahi an-Na’im. The argument is a very powerful one and very difficult to challenge from a Muslim point of view. If acts of worship (ibadat) are only valid when done out of free choice rather than coercion then surely an Islamist state would prevent Muslims from practicing their faith in the manner in which it should be practiced, i.e. voluntarily. On that basis we could argue that the Islamist idea of the “Islamic State” is anti-Islamic and anti-religious because it seeks to force its citizens to engage in acts of worship thus preventing them from achieving closeness with their creator which only voluntary worship can bring.

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Also posted in Your View | Tagged | 1 Comment

The Arab Spinoza

By Faisal | Published: May 26, 2009

Al-Afif al-Akhdar is a 74 year old Tunisian writer who lives in an apartment in a poor part of Paris. His right arm is paralysed and he can no longer use it to write. Three years ago, a fatwa was issued against him via the Al-Nahdha website which is under the control of Rashid al-Ghannoushi, the London-based demagogue of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Al-Nahdha accused him of authoring the book The Unknown in The Prophet’s Life although it was written by an Egyptian Christian. In 2006 Akhdar’s name appeared on a hitlist because of his association with anti-Jihadism and secularism.

Akhdar lives alone, “but with my 4,000 books I don’t feel alone”, he says. Until 2002 he wrote a weekly article for the London-based Arabic paper Al-Hayat, but was fired after he gave an interview to Al Jazeera in which he condemned the barbarism of the corporal punishments that are meted out in Saudi Arabia, such as amputation of limbs.

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Also posted in Islamism, Terrorism | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Forced into Hijab: a response to Katharine Quarmby

By Houriya | Published: May 15, 2009

(This article of mine was originally published in First Draft, the Prospect Magazine blog, 18 March 2009)

In Britain, freedom of consciousness and liberalism thrive. Women can choose to wear the hijab (headscarf) or not, and so Katharine Quarmby can ponder at will its aesthetic and fashion implications. In Iran, however, such a luxury is unimaginable. A woman’s worth and modesty is dictated by misogynist Islamist clerics who force women to wear the hijab and throw feminists in jail for daring to protest for equal human rights.

Unfortunately, some do not appreciate the freedoms held in Britain. In a recent talk I attended, Alastair Crooke, a former MI6 agent, labels what we see in Iran as ‘Muslim values’, praising Iran’s leaders for using their ‘creative imaginative faculties’ to construct a society based on collective ‘Islamic’ norms. Most Iranian women recognise this as Khomeini’s politicisation of religion. Crooke rejected the idea that the Iranian regime abuses a woman’s human rights, as these are a ‘Western’ construct – Christian, capitalist and rooted in individualism.

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Also posted in Democracy, Fashion, Human Rights, Islamism | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

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