The President of France, Emmanuelle Macron,\nrecently claimed that Islam was in crisis, while the fact is, it is secularism\nitself, which he dearly holds, defends and propagates, that is actually in\ncrisis. French secularism is a mainstream secularism which seeks to banish\nreligion from public space in the name of reason and emancipation, while\nreligious organisations are strictly monitored by the state. In other Western countries,\nwhere organised religion is considered a potential public good or national\nresource, a rather moderate secularism is adopted. Regardless, seculariation as\na whole, has led to a sharp decline of traditional religion\u2014as indicated by\nlesser attendance of church services and lesser adherence to traditional Christian\nbeliefs and practices. But with the arrival and eventual settlement of non-Christian\nmigrants in European countries, particularly Muslims, the question of religious\nidentity in the public sphere has become a hot debate again. How does Western\nsecularism respond to the presence of Muslims and Islam? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In\nterms of perception, there is an apparent hostility towards Islam and Muslims\nbased on stereotypes and scare stories in the media. What is now termed as \u201cIslamophobia\u201d\nis basically a form of cultural racism. Since Islam has been conceived as antithetical\nto secular principles and values, it is then considered a hindrance to assimilation and integration of Muslims in\nthe Western society. So, according to radical secularism, instead of\naccomodating the Muslims and their way of life, they have to be secularised. Here\nlies the real problem, which is not political but philosophical\u2014Muslims do not\nwant to be secularised, and due to that, they are accused of refusing\nassimilation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As far as\nthe Muslims are concerned, there is no dichotomy between our life in this world\nand what they believe as the eternal life in the Hereafter. A rightly guided\nMuslim believes that the ultimate purpose of life is in the Hereafter and yet\nit is here, in this world, that he has to work and do good deeds. So in that\nsense, this worldly life is sacred and valuable to Muslims. Since there is no\ndichotomy in their minds, there is no need to affirm one and deny the other as\nif they are mutually contradicting. Both, this world and the other, according\nto the worldview of Islam, are affirmed with the Hereafter having the final\nsignificance. Thus, the problem now is not with Islam but with the secular\nmentality, and in particular with the extreme secularist who wants to impose\nhis vision of truth and reality on others using raw power and authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since\nthere is no such dichotomy in Islam, there is also no church-state like arrangement\nin Islamic history. Such a dichotomy and its attendant political arrangement is\nessentially western and the problems associated with it are irrelevant to Islam\nand Muslims. Historically, secularisation is the final outcome of the long war\nbetween the church and state, and so, any attempt to secularise Muslims is\nequivalent to imposing their problems on others, like an incompetent doctor giving\nwrong prescription. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is not\nIslam then that is in crisis and therefore needs external intervention but\nsecularism itself. Secularism is in crisis because it is not established upon\ncertainty, but upon doubt regarding truth and possibillity of knowledge, and\nthis is the real crisis. Without religion, there is no ultimate purpose of\nlife, but only temporal purposes defined by this temporal life. Such purposes\nchange indefinitely, and so, there is no stability in it. In reality, a life\ndefined by an ever-changing purpose is as good as a purposeless life. Hence, what\nsecular modernity has actually brought to mankind is a grave crisis of identity\nand uncertainty of final destiny. This should explain why the secularisation\nthesis, which was accepted and popularised by almost all sociologists in the\n60\u2019s, has been considered untenable today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nresurgence of non-traditional religions, notably Islam, in the midst of a\nsecular Europe indicates the fact that religion remains relevant. Peter Berger,\nthe renowned sociologist, acknowledges this fact and admits that instead of a\nsecular age we are now actually living in, is a plural age. Judged from his\nbehaviour and statements, Macron seems to have been oblivious to this\ndevelopment. He needs to wake up immediately and look in the mirror and asks\nhimself: who is actually in crisis? In a plural society, the way forward is by\nmanaging multiculturalism through dialogues. But Macron must first of all learn\nhow to respect others, and not use freedom of speech as a license to disparage,\nhumiliate, undermine and dehumanise others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The President of France, Emmanuelle Macron, recently claimed that Islam was in crisis, while the fact is, it is secularism itself, which he dearly holds, defends and propagates, that is actually in crisis. French secularism is a mainstream secularism …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_analytify_skip_tracking":false,"_wpzoom_pinterest_image_url":"","_wpzoom_pinterest_hidden_image":"0","_wpzoom_pinterest_description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[139],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-straits-times","category-139","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28307\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}