26 January 2011 By Saeed
Qureshi Islam basically, is a secular
religion which means it allows freedom to other
religions under its canopy.
Secularism is neither
atheism nor socialism. It is a concept
that stands for freedom to all the religions and
denominations to practice their faith and traditions.
The society and the Islamic government in Spain were
secular as Christians, Jews and Muslims were treated
as equal citizens. They were free to pursue their
religious obligations without any let or hindrance
from the state or the society. There exists indisputable
convergence between Islam and secularism on such
splendid values as
fundamental rights,
equality, Social justice, freedom of expression and
tolerance. Secularism and Islam both support
capitalism. Secularism is defined as the political
concept of bourgeois democracies. It is primarily not
an economic concept. Secularism has no objection if
the factories, land and banks etc are owned by a few
individuals or by the state. Two episodes from the life of the
second caliph of Islam Hazrat Umar amply illustrate
the close interconnection between Islam and secularism
in matters relating to the freedom of expression. One
was the explanation of caliph to the objection of a
Muslim about the longer size of his apparel than given
to others from the war booty. The second is about the esteem
for other religions shown by Caliph Umar when during
his visit to
Jerusalem (637 A. D.), he declined to
pray inside the Christians' church, on the grounds
that his action might not become a tradition. Such was
the level of tolerance or reverence for other faiths
by the founding torch bearers of nascent Islam. The entire West and both North
and South America and the Far East are essentially
secular as in these societies, there is no ban nor any
restriction over other religions to survive and
adhere to their faith. Even Islamic countries like
Jordan, Malaysia,
Indonesia,
Egypt,
Syria,
Iraq,
United Arab Emirates,
Algeria, Turkey,
Lebanon (50 % Muslims),
Kuwait, Tunis, and Morocco are treading
on the path of secularism. The religious minorities in these
countries are not coerced or harassed to follow their
religious rituals and customs under certain
conditions. The understandable conditions, equally
applicable to even Islam and other
minority religions are respect for law
and not to smear or deride other religions. To interpret secularism with a
godless culture, faithlessness or atheism is simple
ignorance or gross misconception about the creed of
secularism. If Christians and Jews worshipped and
practiced their religious obligations with complete
freedom during the time of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) and
four caliphs, what other name can be given to this
laudable liberalism and tolerance towards other
religions than secularism. From the conquests by Islam to
the time of
Renaissance
(14th
century onward), the Muslim states were
monarchies, hereditary successions, family dynasties,
or with a strong man at the helm. The distinct concept
of a nation state with attending halls marks of
democracy, equality and freedom had not developed or
evolved till the French revolution (1789-1799).
Thereafter, while the western world turned into nation
states, the Islamic world continued to hold on to the
theocracies with the same paradigm of suzerainty by
monarchs, kings and dictators. Even in theocratic Muslim empires
such as Omayyad's, Abbasids, the Ottomans; the non
Muslim populations were seldom forced to abandon their
faith and become Muslims. During the Mughal Muslim
rulers period (1526- 1857) in the undivided India, we
have no evidence that religious minorities were
forcibly converted to Islam, constrained to go to
their temples or inhibited from observing their
religious festivities. The resurgence of the Wahabis, a
fanatic band of Islam, during the middle of the
19th century, was not
supported by the Muslim majority in India. As a result
it was brutally crushed both by the British and the
Sikhs. That demonstrates that Muslims
were not extremists even during their hay days. The
isolated attempts to impose or enforce orthodoxy have
never succeeded because of the secular outlook of
other Muslims. During the last days of the
Ottoman orthodox caliphate, the caliph
Abdul
Hamid the second, with the help of
Britain tried to crush the liberals, the
seculars, the nationalists with most inhuman, brutal
machinations but failed. He used the ploy of saving
the caliphate by declaring the opponents such as Kamal
Ataturk as heathens and apostates. After the defeat of
Germany in
Second World War,
Turkey being the ally of Germans was penalized by
occupation of its lands by
Greek and
the British forces. While the caliph ordered the
Turkish armies to surrender before the
foreign invaders, the chief religious authority called
Sheikh-ul-Islam issued religious decree to kill seven
persons including Kamal Ataturk who were fighting
against the Greeks, Britain, with a an assurance to
the killers of an abode in paradise. But no one paid
heed to his hypocritical calls. Finally the religious
sovereign fled Turkey on board the British ship with
his hollow fervor for the religion Islam. For the last seen decades, Turkey
is a secular liberal country. But it is also one of
the most trenchant Islamic states where Islam has been
flourishing ever. It is the model of true Islam that
ordains liberalism, tolerance, humanism, equality and
fundamental rights. Religious freedom with Islam as
the supreme religion of the country can be witnessed
in Turkey. The Turkish religio-political dynasties
came to an end with the rise of modern Turkey and the
abolishment of the sultanate and caliphate on March 3,
1924. One can also see a prototype of
the same egalitarianism and openness with the Islamic
genre in Malaysia and Indonesia. These are
progressive, secular Islamic states firmly founded on
Islam's temporal and ecclesiastical codes. Saeed Qureshi is a Dallas-based journalist
and a former diplomat. Email: qureshisa2003@ yahoo.com Comments 💬 التعليقات |