"Being Muslims & Its Challenges" 3 (Islam Vs Secularism)

ISLAM & SECULARISM
“Towards becoming
Muslims - and its
challenges.”
Friday night lecture series by:

Ustaz Zhulkeflee Hj Ismail
@ Masjid al- Istiqomah
(Seranggoon, Singapore)
1
©2006ZhulkefleeHjIsmail
“Towards becoming Muslims -
and its challenges.”
i o n
uss
c
f dis
c o
i
T o p  What are amongst
the basic
characteristics of
being a Muslim…?
2
To be a community who bear
Witness of Islam unto all nation
ً۬ ‫م‬
‫ة‬ ُ
َّ ‫م أ‬ۡ ُ ‫جعَ ۡلن َ ٰـك‬ َ
‫ك‬ ِ ‫ـ‬ ‫ل‬ ‫ٲ‬
‫ذ‬ َ َ ‫وَك‬
َ
َ‫ش َہدَاء‬ ُ ْ ‫ڪـــونُوا‬ ُ َ ‫سطل ِّت‬ ‫وَ َ ً۬ا‬
‫س‬ ‫ا‬َّ ‫عَلَىٱلن‬
ِ
ۡ ُ ‫ل عَل َ ۡيك‬
‫م‬ ُ ‫سو‬ ُ ّ‫ر‬َ ‫ل‬ ‫ٱ‬ ‫ن‬َ ‫وَيَك‬
‫و‬ ُ
ۗ‌‫َ ً۬ا‬
‫شهيد‬ 3
To be a community who bear
Witness of Islam unto all nation
“And thus have We willed you to

be a community of the middle
way (ummat an was otan ) [i.e.
justly balanced], so that [with
your lives] you might bear
witness to the truth before all
mankind (shuhadaa -a ‘ alan-
naas )
(Qur’an: al- Baqarah: 2:143)”
4
Aspects of Faith (al- iiman)
The Challenge
 Believe in Allah –  Weak or even
Tawhiid ignorance of ‘Ilm-
(Attestation to the at-Tawhiid.
Oneness of God).
5
The Challenge
Oneness of God).  Rampant cases of
“shirk” and
“Irtidad”.
6
The Challenge
Oneness of God).  Rampant cases of
“shirk” and
“Irtidad”.
 How to manage
contemporary
lifestyles and other
‘distractions’?
7
The Challenge
 Believe in Angels,  Evangelical
Revealed Books movement and
and the anti-Islamic media
Prophethood –Ar- reporting.
Risaalah (The
Message of the
Last Prophet of
God).
8
The Challenge
 Believe in Angels,  Evangelical
Revealed Books movement and
and the anti-Islamic media
Prophethood –Ar- reportings.
Risaalah (The  Deviant teachings
Message of the e.g.. Qadianis,
Last Prophet of ingkar-sunnah,
God). ‘kebatinan’,
pseudo- Mu’tazilis,
pseudo-Sufis,
modernists,
secularists.
9
The Challenge
 Believe in the Day  Educational
of Judgement and emphasis towards
Life after death –Al- materialistic
Aakhirah (The worldview.
concept of Life in
the Hereafter).
10
The Challenge
 Believe in the Day  Educational
of Judgement and emphasis towards
Life after death –Al- materialistic
Aakhirah (The worldview.
concept of Life in  Changing in values
the Hereafter). towards:
- Skepticism;
- Materialistic;
- Hedonistic;
- Liberalism;
11
“SECULARISM &
SECULARIZATION”
“Secularization” is defined as:

 the deliverance of man “first from religious and then from
metaphysical control over his reason and his language”[1]
 it is “the loosing of the world from religious and quasi-
religious understandings of itself, the dispelling of all
closed world views, the breaking of all supernatural myths
and sacred symbols…
 the ‘defatalization of history’
 the discovery by man that he has been left with the world
on his hands, and he can no longer blame fortune or the
furies for what he does with it…;
 it is man turning hid attention away from the worlds
beyond and towards this world and this time.”
[1] Cornelis van Peursen, quoted by Harvey Cox ref: “Islam & Secularism” S.M.Naquib
al-Attas p 17
12
“SECULARISM &
SECULARIZATION”
“Secularization”
 It encompasses:
 not only political and social
aspects of life, but also

inevitably the cultural, for it
denotes “the disappearance of
religious determination of the
symbols of cultural integration.” 13
“SECULARISM &
SECULARIZATION”
“Secularization”
 It implies:
 “a historical process, almost
certainly irreversible, in which

society and culture are delivered
from tutelage to religious control
and closed metaphysical world
views.” 14
“SECULARISM &
SECULARIZATION”
The integral components in the dimensions of

Secularization are:
[a] The “disenchantment” of nature,
- the freeing of nature from its religious overtones” (Max Weber)
[b] The “desacralization” of politics,
- the abolition of sacral legitimation of political power and
authority, which is the prerequisite of political change and hence
also social change allowing for the emergence of the historical
process.”
[c] The “deconsecration” of values.
- the rendering transient and relative all cultural creations and
every value system which for them includes religion and
worldviews having ultimate and final significance, so that in this
way history, the future, is open to change, and man is free to
create the change and immerse himself in the ‘evolutionary’
process”
15
“SECULARISM &
SECULARIZATION”
Note to distinguish:
 “Secularism” is the
‘ideology’
 whereas ‘Secularization’, the
‘process’.”
16
ISLAMIC RESPONSE TO
SECULARISM
EXTRACTED FROM “THE EDUCATIONAL

PHILOSOPHY OF PROF. SYED MUHAMMAD
NAQUIB AL-ATTAS”
Found in g Direct or I STAC
(In stit ute of Is la mi c T hou gh t and
Civil iza tio n)
Ho ld er o f t he A l- Gha za li e Distin gu ishe d
Chai r of Phi los oph y
17
“ISLAMIZATION
: brief notes to understand
“Islamization” (in a general sense)– is “the liberation

of man first from magical, mythology, animistic,
national-cultural tradition opposed to Islam, and
then from secular control over his reason and his
language… It is also a liberation from subservience
to his physical demands which inclines toward the
secular and injustice to his true self or soul, for man
as physical being inclines towards forgetfulness of
his true nature, becoming ignorant of his true
purpose and unjust to it. Islamization is a process
not so much of evolution as that of devolution to
original nature…” [1]

[1] Wan Mohd Nor Wan Daud’s “The Educational Philosophy and Practice of Syed Muhammad Naquib Al-
Attas” (ISTAC publication 1998) p 312
18
“ISLAMIZATION
“Islamization” (in the individual, personal sense) –

refers to the recognition and acknowledgement of
the Holy Prophet as the exemplary leader and
personality for both man and woman.
19
“ISLAMIZATION
“Islamization” (in the individual, personal sense) –

refers to the recognition and acknowledgement of
the Holy Prophet as the exemplary leader and
personality for both man and woman.
“Islamization” (in the collective, social historical

sense) – it refers to the Community (ummah)’s
striving towards realization of the moral and ethical
perfection achieved during the age of the Holy
Prophet.
20
“ISLAMIZATION

“Islamization” (epistemologically) – refers to the
liberation of human intellect from doubt (shakk),
conjecture (zann) and vain argumentation (mira’) to
the attainment of certainty (yaqin) of the truth
(haqq) concerning spiritual, intelligible and material
realities. The process for liberation depends:
21
“ISLAMIZATION

“Islamization” (epistemologically) – refers to the
liberation of human intellect from doubt (shakk),
conjecture (zann) and vain argumentation (mira’) to
the attainment of certainty (yaqin) of the truth
(haqq) concerning spiritual, intelligible and material
realities. The process for liberation depends:
 - initially on scientific knowledge (ilmu pengetahuan)
but it is always ultimately founded in and guided by
a special form of knowledge, ma’rifah (ilmu
pengenalan). This special form of knowledge
includes fard ‘ayn while the scientific ones includes
fard kifaayah.
22
“ISLAMIZATION
PROCESS: Islamization of contemporary

knowledge involves:
 “isolation of key elements and concepts
that make up Western culture and
civilisation … especially in the areas of
interpretation of facts and formulation of
theories”
23
“ISLAMIZATION
PROCESS: Islamization of contemporary

knowledge involves:
 “isolation of key elements and concepts
that make up Western culture and
civilisation … especially in the areas of
interpretation of facts and formulation of
theories”
 “the infusion of Islamic elements and key
concepts in every branch of the relevant
present-day knowledge.”
24
“ISLAMIZATION”
: some cautionary notes
PROCESS: Islamization of contemporary knowledge:
 “When we speak of intelligible forms being ‘in’ the

mind, or images being ‘in’ the cognitive
imagination, we do not mean these forms or
images are ‘contained’ in them; it is rather that
they are constructions of the intellect or mind
during the course of its intellection of them such
that they are ‘present’ to the intellect, and hence
referred to as being ‘in’ the mind; and productions
of the cognitive imagination as it involves itself in
projecting the sensible world.”
25
“ISLAMIZATION”
PROCESS: Islamization of contemporary knowledge:
 “Some of the less careful readers might think of

Islamization as a process of doing something to
external objects and hence they speak of Islamic
bicycles, Islamic trains, and even Islamic bombs!
 On a slightly more sophisticated level, some of

these people, who are obviously unable to free
themselves from the dualistic perspective, assign
low priority to the development of proper Islamic
scholars and thinkers in different fields; they
rather give overwhelming stress to the
development of institutions, as if these
institutions can be properly established and
sustained without the participation of able and 26
creative scholars and thinkers!
“ISLAMIZATION”
PROCESS: Islamization of contemporary knowledge :
 “… It should be stressed that dewesternization

and Islamization of knowledge are cognitive and
spiritual acts and happen simultaneously without
temporal gap. Furthermore, before one can
‘isolate’ and ‘take out’ the unIslamic, Western or
foreign ideas and concepts, one must first be able
to identify them as well as have a profound grasp
of the Islamic worldview with all its key elements
and concepts. ……….
27

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ISLAM & SECULARISM

Friday night lecture series by:

“And thus have We willed you to

“Secularization” is defined as:

 not only political and social

aspects of life, but also

 “a historical process, almost

certainly irreversible, in which

The integral components in the dimensions of

EXTRACTED FROM “THE EDUCATIONAL

“Islamization” (in a general sense)– is “the liberation

“Islamization” (in the individual, personal sense) –

“Islamization” (in the individual, personal sense) –

“Islamization” (in the collective, social historical

PROCESS: Islamization of contemporary

PROCESS: Islamization of contemporary

PROCESS: Islamization of contemporary knowledge:

 “When we speak of intelligible forms being ‘in’ the

PROCESS: Islamization of contemporary knowledge:

 “Some of the less careful readers might think of

 On a slightly more sophisticated level, some of

PROCESS: Islamization of contemporary knowledge :

 “… It should be stressed that dewesternization

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