Toward a Democratic Theory for Muslim Societies: Rethinking the Relationship between Islam and Secularism across the Islam-West Divide

It is now a standard cliché that Islam does not recognize the concept of secularity. Normatively, we are told, that among the world’s religious traditions Islam is uniquely anti-modern in that it (allegedly) contains within its religious and civilizational ethos an attitude that rejects the separation of religion and politics thus making the development of liberal democracy difficult. The most influential and widely cited proponent of this thesis in the social sciences has been Bernard Lewis, the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor of Near Eastern Studies Emeritus at Princeton University. Lewis’ thesis is based on a comparative treatment of Islam and Christianity and is rooted in the claim that Islam’s problem with secularism is due “to certain profound differences in belief and experience in the two religious cultures.” This chapter seeks to provide an alternative reading to the Lewis thesis on the question of Islam and secularism. While previous critics of Lewis have argued that he has misread Islamic history, where evidence of a de facto secularity can be detected in early Muslim polities, it will be argued that Lewis has significantly misread – less the political history of Islam – and more the political history of Christendom. Jettisoning an explanation that emphasises the early religious experience of Islam/Christianity to explain the absence/rise of secularism, in this chapter the stress will be placed on the early modern period of Europe. It was during this time that political secularism – as understood today in the Anglo-American tradition – has its true origins. The central claim of this chapter is that historically, secularism did not develop in Muslim societies because unlike in Latin Christendom – Muslims never had the need to think about secularism.