Islam in post-secular society: Meanings and implications

1. The public talk on Islam in post-secular society: Meanings and implications was held on 13 Feb 2017. It was attended by 70 participants from academic institutions, and public agencies, religious leaders from different faiths and professionals and students

2. The discussion focused on articulating the role that people of faith and principles play within the context of a modern nation-state. Particularly, a state that suffers from a triangle of unjust and corrupt monopolies on the political, economic and religious fronts.

3. Post-secularity: The post-secular society does not imply the end of an objective neutral state that exercises the separation of state and religious institutions. Rather, it is the inclusion of religious principles, objectively, in the public discourse. Jürgen Habermas, one of Europe’s leading secular liberal thinkers acknowledges that secularism, by definition, cannot generate any values beyond an indifferent tolerance to all beliefs. Thus, he foresees that there must be a healthy complementary relationship between the secular and the religious. He states ‘the secular mentality must be open to the religious influence of believing citizens’ while generating moral and ethical values. As these values would be drawn from the various religious traditions that citizens believe in and draw inspiration from.

4. Role of religions (I): Prof Jasser points out that religious traditions could assist in elucidating a possible analysis of contemporary challenges – he draws inspiration from the Quranic verses that speak of the triangular alliance of political, economic and religious monopolies that created an unjust and corrupt ancient Egyptian society and degenerated their citizen’s dignity. He demonstrates how it’s the same trio that afflicts our contemporary society today.

5. Three forms of injustices: Thus, Prof Jasser states that neither religion nor secularity are the primary root causes of the contemporary challenges per se. Therefore, there is no need to go beyond them. Instead, he identifies three forms of injustices as the reasons for the deviation of any system from its optimum objective of ensuring human wellbeing. (1) Political monopoly gains strength through divide and conquer policies that fragment and weaken communities and vilifies one against others. (2) Economic monopolies place resources in the hands of minute percentage of elites, who then shape reality by controlling information, media, education, food and medicine. As most decisions are driven by economic interest, little is invested into the development of the society and its citizens. (3) Finally, the religious monopoly operates by weakening critical thinking, sanctioning exclusive forms of religious expressions and criminalises others, evades accountability, and at extreme forms – heinous crimes are carried out in the name of what they deem as the ‘correct’ religious expression. Prof Jasser states that this triangular trio maintain a tight control of power for their survival.

6. Modern secular nation-state: Islamic principles do not object to a modern secular state as a socio-political system outrightly. Rather the value of a modern secular state, or any other system, is proportionate to the degree of goodness, justice, compassion, and freedom it cultivates into its policies and social fabric and to the degree it elevates human dignity, celebrates diversity and is accountable to its citizens. The more a society serves universal Islamic values, the more ‘Islamic’ it is – even if it’s not Islamic in form – and the opposite holds true. A Muslim aims to live in a society that substantially manifests Islamic values, seeks his/her contributions and respects his/her identity. This develops into society that has a healthy complementary relationship between the state and the resources, and the religious traditions.

7. Role of religions (II): Religious traditions teach positive values and Prof Jasser believes that there is room for the religious, and the non-religious alike to (1) unite by nurturing a common ground based on values and principles and (2) effectively deconstruct against the different structural forms of injustices with the aim of achieving basic level of freedom and ending monopolies that control information and resources and supporting the reconstruction effort of fairer systems. Islam could contribute in that because it manifests the values – mercy, justice, good morality, honesty. People of faith ought to cooperate in public for the common good.

8. Intra-faith diversity: However, for Muslims to reach a common ground with others, there is a need for intra-faith respect and cooperation on the common ground of serving the common good. There is a need to appreciate that a healthy diversity of schools of thought connotes room for flexibility and contextualization that avoids exclusive attitudes and the suppression of people in a one-size fits all forms.

9. Civic engagement: In today’s society that appreciates the wisdom of religious traditions, Prof Jasser encourages the active involvement of young people of faith in their societies through participating in local and international organizations that promote just causes and that reflect the values and principles of Islam.

Islam in post-secular society: Meanings and implications [PDF, 311 KB] ↗ (opens in new tab)