Tasawwur Islam 2; Islam And Secularism

As promised,
Islam and secularism.
From lesson conducted by Akhi Abdul Halim, 14 Sept 2008

وَأُمِرْتُ أَنْ أُسْلِمَ لِرَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ
And I am ordered to submit to the Lord of the Worlds – 40:66

With all the hype about secularism and its perceived benefits, a Muslim ought to be careful about what it entails, for not everything that secularism boasts about is good or compatible for the Muslim.

First and foremost, the definition of Secularism:
From Latin Saeculum;
Which means HERE and NOW, not future, not hereafter

Syed Naquib Al-Attas in his book Islam and Secularism says there is no definition for secularism in Islam, therefore just use secularism so as to really contain its essence in meaning.

Secularism is an ideology which claims that God-consciousness and religiosity have no bearing whatsoever on daily activities, ie non-consequential in daily life -> why pray? Why fast?

Secularism is an avenue for Man to be “free” from the throngs of religion, although what is understood by “free” is highly debatable. Free to do as your heart’s desire without any consideration for religion is also known as being enslaved by your lowly desires. It is therefore quintessentially a question of who do you take as master. God, Yourself or Satan? As for those who take God as their master, then God is the Best Master, Noble and utmost Generous!

[secularism is] The removal of everything that associates with religion such as symbols.

[secularism is] to view that your fate is in your hands only.
Consider this: why are so many Muslims saying such things:
I fail because it is His Preordainment; I Pass because of my efforts.

A more tolerant version of secularism would probably state something to this effect;
Religion is solely a personal matter, between you and your God only, you don’t enforce it on others.

In reality, Islam is more than a religion, it is a Way of Life (deen) and in it we are taught that Islam is about relations among Humans, Nature (alam) and God.

Islam is Deen and Daulah, Religion and State; for many of Islam’s Syariah would not be able to be implemented without a State. Secularist reduce Islam to strictly private sphere, when in reality we have in Islam things like muamalat(daily activities such as financing, transactions, banking), jinayyat(criminal law) etc.

Even so, within Islam itself there are specific orders set out by God ordering us not to coerce the religion upon those who are unwilling.


لاَ إِكْرَاهَ فِي الدِّينِ
There is no compulsion in religion2:256

AND

اللَّهُ رَبُّنَا وَرَبُّكُمْ لَنَا أَعْمَالُنَا وَلَكُمْ أَعْمَالُكُمْ لَا حُجَّةَ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَكُمُ اللَّهُ يَجْمَعُ بَيْنَنَا وَإِلَيْهِ الْمَصِيرُ
God is our Sustainer as well as your Sustainer. To us shall be accounted our deeds, and to you, your deeds. Let there be no contention between us and you: God will bring us all together - for with Him is all journeys’ end.” 42:15

That a non-muslim should be afraid of Syariah is unfounded.

Chinese next door do not want Islamic Law implemented because they want the liberty to be able to eat in public during the day in Ramadhan.
Reality (why reality? Because Tasawwur Islam is to see things as they REALLY are) is that no muslim is allowed to punish a non-muslim for that action because the Syariah in this case is NON-ABIDING to non-muslims.

Another example: a muslim visits his neighbor, a non-muslim and finds an expensive investment of vintage wines in his cellar. The muslim takes a hammer and smashes all the wine bottles. The Non-Muslim complaints to the Muslim Ruler and the Just Muslim Ruler rules in favour of the non-muslim; ie the muslim who smashed the wine bottles was ordered to pay just compensation.

If the scenario was reversed, ie a non-muslim visits a muslim and was jealous of the muslim’s impressive collection of vintage wines and smashes all of the muslim’s wine bottles, the judgment would be different. The Muslim ruler will not ask the non-muslim to pay compensation, rather he will admonish the muslim who keeps wine in his house which is haram in the first place.

Certain things about Islamic law surely are still not well understood by the public and too much negative images have been potrayed about it, both by muslims(out of ego and/or ignorance) and non-muslims.

The Jews who faced persecution by the Catholics during the Spanish Inquisition found solace in Muslim Ottoman Lands which ruled by the Syariah.

No doubt, today there are extremists who hijack the name of Islam, as there were extremists who hijacked the image of chritianity in the past, to the extent that Pope John Paul II made formal apologies for the Church’s misdeeds over the millennia.


Islam’s View of Nature (Tasawwur) and Secularism’s Desacrelisation of Nature

Secularism’s disenchantment and desacrelisation of Nature.

إِنِّي جَاعِلٌ فِي الأَرْضِ خَلِيفَةً

2:30 - Behold, I am about to establish upon earth one who shall inherit it."

This is the Islamic concept of Man; that He is the Viceroy of God in this world, entrusted with the management of the world. The world is the trust God gave us and it follows that our view of nature is one that is God centered.

Which is why Muslims view nature as sacred, but not as how Hindus view Nature as Sacred. Hindus view the sacredness of nature as being Divine, but Muslims see Nature as Ayatullah, or Signs of God and also His Trust, for we are entrusted to manage the world.

However, what secularists propagate is that the world is of its own and has no Creator, it is, it was and it will be.

This difference in attitude is axiomatic when one compares the attitude of a secularist to that of a sincere Muslim.

Take for example, Photosynthesis.
When the Muslim marvels at photosynthesis and praise His Lord for such ingenuity, the secularists merely dismiss photosynthesis as a natural occurrence, expected of plants since they possess chlorophyll.
Perhaps what they do not realize is that this “primitive” process is one that we cannot imitate even with today’s advancement of technology.

Even classical scientists of old such as Isaac Newton, Johannes Copernicus, Gallileo, Pascal, Louis Pasteur, all marvel and Praise God, and they cite this sense of wonderment at God's Might as their main drive that fuels their enthusiasm to study science.

Secularism and Defatalisation of History:

Secularists say, there is no such thing as Qiamat, why are you so fatalistic and morbid! But astronomers say the sun will die…

Deconsecration of Values and Moral Relativism

A secularist who studies obscure tribes may come to know of their own unique culture, not necessarily correct morally, and yet claim that their value system is good for them and our value system is good for us.

For example, a secularist studies a tribe which practices a system whereby unmarried women have sex as much as possible and have children as many as possible, as a showcase of her fertility before getting properly married. Secularists say such a moral system is good for them and works for them, not the urban people of his country. Whereas Islam would stand for what is ordered by God and demand a change in their abhorrent way of life.

Fragmentation of Knowledge

It follows that secularists also like to fragment knowledge and they do not necessarily establish rightful links between those fields of knowledge.

The most classic is the separation of religion from science.

Islam views all knowledge as coming from God, the All-Knower, and all knowledge are linked in one way or another, regardless they be religious knowledge or scientific knowledge, which is why Muslims are encouraged to seek knowledge, whatever it is and which also explains the Golden Age of Islam when the Muslims were the beacons of knowledge for the whole world.

The result of all this can be quite saddening, the muslim today no longer have their own identity or are grounded on it, they do not have a worldview that is Islamic, they are easily misled by others.
For example, why wear the scarf? Look at the progressive westerners! They don’t wear scarves!

The most fundamental behind this Islamic worldview is a firm creed, a firm witnessing to the ultimate truth that There is no God save Allah, and Muhammad is His Messenger.

It is such a simple statement which, on the surface, is not difficult to understand at all, yet is the most profound and powerful.

And how timely it is, in the end times, so near to us, in the 19th century, a saint appears who was taught a secret by the Prophet saw, more valuable than all diamonds, gems and bezels, reserved for him by the Prophet saw himself, for the benefit of all humanity.

لاَ إِلٰهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُوْلُ اللهِ فِيْ كُلِّ لَـْمحَةٍ وَنَفَسٍ عَدَدَ ماَ وَسِعَهُ عِلْمُ اللهِ.

There is no God save Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of God, in every blink of the eye and in every breath, to the number that only God's knowledge can comprehend

For this, every ahmadi owes an infinite amount of gratitude to Sidi Ahmad Ibn Idris, may God sanctify his secrets. May God strengthen me and all ikhwans upon the Manhaj of Sidi Ahmad Ibn Idris! Amin!