Introduction to Chapter 6

The Killer Principles

 

Can Islam produce a comparable religious argument in support of modernity and democracy? The answer is that we do not know. We must hope and pray that it can and will. But this we do know: If it is true, as some still say, that liberal democracy is inseparable from secularism, liberal democracy has a very dim future in a world of resurgent religion.

Richard John Neuhaus

Main themes of the chapter are divided into six major sections as follows

  • Background

  • Extremist Secularism

  • Protestant Islam

  • Weaknesses of Secular Approach

  • Incompatibility

  • Consequences

  • Tomorrow

    • The chapter begins with identifying two extremist tendencies of the champions of democracy i.e.,  embracing one and violating the other principle of democracy to the extreme. In spite of admissions that democracy need not be secular, there is a fundamentalist obsession among the proponents of democracy for the principle of separation of Church and State. On the other hand, no one minds clear violations of the principle that calls for respecting the will of the majority.

    To the question, "can democracy only succeed in a nation where there is a separation of religion and state," scholars, such Muqtedir Khan on the one end of a conceptual spectrum and Daniel Pipes on the other, state that secularism may be a desirable, but not a necessary precondition in order to foster state neutrality in a multi-religious society.7 However, experience shows that this is not the case. Reality is very different from opinions. A look at the developments over the last 13 years suggest that two consistent themes in much of the contemporary analysis of world affairs have been the impending clash of civilizations and the need for the secularization of the Muslim world.

    Indeed, the call to secularize Islam as a means of averting a clash of civilizations is really the first salvo in such a clash. It is a fashionable mantra to suggest that invading Muslim states could transform the Muslim world by bringing the long denied liberal democracy to them. US Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz is one of the many proponents of secularism. He publicly declared in March 2002 that democracy is incomplete without being secular. In this regard, he believes, "Turkey can be an example for the Muslim World."8

    Analysts and reporters are helpless before influence of the sources that shape their mindset. For example, reporters from the Chicago Tribune wrote, "Washington, we are told, wants to foster secular democracy in Iraq, but alas, the Islamists are resisting."9 Headlines in the Hindu read, "Democracy impossible without secularism."10 Ramesh Sharma writes, "Democracy should uphold secular ethos."11 Furthermore, secularism is considered the soul of democracy. Writing in the Dawn, Dr Syed Jaffar Ahmed, says, "Secularism played a pivotal role in shaping the modern democratic states…It has been accepted as a universal principle for engineering democratic nations"12 Karen Litfin of the University of Washington goes a step further and argues that even "Sovereignty is inseparable from the secular worldview that has been emblematic of modernity.13

    Above all, the President of Turkey believes, "democracy is the only way to maturity, and that secularism is an inseparable part of democracy."14 Tansu Çiller before him on her turn did not keep any secret of her belief and said, "secularism is an indispensable principle for Turkey"15 Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s declared: "independence, national integration, democracy and secularism are complementary to each other…secularism and democracy are inseparable parts of national unity."16 

    The author then moves to give background of secularism and its extremist tendencies that carry the seeds of self-destruction.

    Discussion on  the main reasons for the secular State’s inability to cultivate virtue and address many problems the world face today follows. Weaknesses of the secular approach are specifically dealt with in an exclusive section in the chapter, followed by its incompatibility and some of the apparent consequences of sticking to secular guns.

    in the 6-page conclusion, the chapter sheds light on the place of secularism in Islam and the form of governance in a Muslim country.

     

     



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