Secular Muslim or Just Muslim

Praise be to Allah (SWT) and Blessings on Prophet Muhammad (SAW)

[…] Today have I perfected your deen for you, and have bestowed upon you the full measure of My blessings, and willed that self-surrender unto Me shall be your deen. […] [Al Maida, 5:3]

O you who are firmly committed to Allah! Enter, all together, into a state of serenity and harmony [with Allah], and follow not Satan’s footsteps, for verily he is your obvious enemy. [Al Baqara, 2:208]

The statement of Zohran Mamdani, mayor-elect of New York, that he is Muslim and Social Democrat should make us pause to reflect on the meaning of Islam as deen (ideology), with a particular emphasis on the wider meaning of secularism.

It is noteworthy to remember that secularism was an arrangement regarding the relationship of religion with the State, notably the place of religion in society. In plain terms, secularism is the separation of religion from state matters, from politics, and to ensure that it has a limited role in a limited part of society. Religion should have no say in public debates. These are the secular foundations upon which liberalism is built, limiting religious expression to a bare minimum.

In practice, whether one is Muslim, Christian or Jew, or of any other denomination, one’s faith will have only a minor place in a minor role in wider society or international affairs. The secular mentality allows one’s value system, worship and ritual without any contest from the state. Consequently, society does not recognise only one Truth, for it is variable according to the interest of each and every one. In secular society, there exists a subset which belongs to Allah (SWT), while the greater part, the civic part, does not belong to Allah (SWT).

However, Allah (SWT) clearly states:

[…] Today have I perfected your deen for you, and have bestowed upon you the full measure of My blessings, and willed that self-surrender unto Me shall be your deen. […] [Al Maida, 5:3]

This liberal position is therefore in direct contradiction with Muslim beliefs. When we study Seerah, we see that the separation of religion from state or to consider religion as a subset does not exist in Islam. It is only by the 20th century that people argued that Islam and secularism could possibly coexist, hence the notion of the secular Muslim, based on kufr. Islamic history has shown that Islam has a stand on all things.

As a complete deen, Islam has a stand on everything for Allah has sent down the revelation as a guide for humanity.

He it is who has sent forth His Apostle [Muhammad] with the [task of spreading] guidance and the deen of truth, to the end that He may cause it to prevail over all [false] deen — however hateful this may be to those who ascribe divinity to anyone/anything beside Allah. [At Tawbah, 9:33]

Allah (SWT) therefore has a stand on economic affairs, foreign affairs, politics similar to stands on how to fast, pray, etc… The first Muslims did not differentiate between the religious and the civic. They recognised that every problem had its solution in Shari’ah.

Over centuries, ministries of religious affairs or awqaf, were created within Muslim state governments, based on the kufr concept of nationalism and secularism, thus signalling the separation of religion and state affairs. In the same vein, secularism was instilled in Muslim mentality, relegating Islam as a lifestyle, in the backseat.

It does not befit a committed muslim male or a committed muslim female once Allah and His Apostle have decided on an issue to have an option [of whether to obey or not to obey]: […] [Al Ahzab, 33:6]

Over the years, the Ummah took the path of secularism, limiting Islam to the private sphere, with the contamination of the educational system by colonial usurpers, and their interference in our lifestyle, as well as their infiltration in the form of colonial language in our texts.

The absence of scholars’ stands during the genocide in Gaza, or worse, their condemnation by the mujahid, has revealed the extent to which Islam has been separated from the affairs of the Ummah.

This is how we have gradually turned our mosques into caves, where religious affairs are the only topics that can be discussed. Except for a few independent-minded ones, our preachers have stepped back from their duties of taking stands against drugs, immorality, and scourges that threaten society. Have we heard a single khutbah urging Muslims to reflect, to motivate Muslims to develop critical thinking, to elevate their level of thinking? Have we heard a single khutbah urging us to take a stand, to denounce, or protest?

By neglecting a part of the Qur’an, preferring ease, we have pushed our youth to an “Islam” which is outside of societal change. Unfortunately, numerous Islamic societies and masajid promote a dormant Muslim.

[…]Do you pledge yourselves to parts of scripture and reject [other] parts? […] [Al Baqara, 2:85]

We are all responsible for the fact that our mosques have become isolating caves rather than centres for activism. We have falsely believed that Muslims should remain far from activism, from active engagement.

Behold, Allah has bought of the commit- ted muslims their lives and their possessions, promising them Paradise in return, [and so] they fight in Allah’s cause […] [At Tawbah, 9:111]

By adopting secularism, numerous Muslims have found themselves engaged in actions that are incompatible with Islam. We have confounded our loyalties, making politics the new gods.

With the complicity of traitors among us, enemies of Islam have infiltrated our deen, as they are conscious of Islam’s superiority, with kufr concepts, such as secularism, the dissociation of politics from the spiritual, democracy and capitalism. It was the signal of the contamination of our minds, of the dilution of the Qur’anic message, of the infection in the Ummah.

Even worse, secularism has caused us to doubt the superiority of our deen, and its capacity as an ideology to solve our problems.

You are indeed the best community that has ever been brought forth for humanity [for its well-being]: you require [and authorize] the doing of the common good and you disallow [and interdict] the common wrong, and you are committed to Allah. […] [Ali ‘Imran, 3:110]

The topic is not exhaustive but in a so-called secular state, have we ever asked ourselves why is the state responsible for the organisation of one of Islam’s pillars, the hajj?

May Allah (SWT) help and guide us.