A New Secularism Is Appearing in Islam

[sun rise]

Is this the start of a trend? I hope so. If it is, I suspect we'll see it more clearly in another 5 years or so.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/23/opinion/islam-religion.html
A New Secularism Is Appearing in Islam

Across much of the Islamic world, many Muslims are disillusioned with the ugly things done in the name of their religion.

Many Westerners gave a negative answer, thinking Islam is just too rigid and absolutist to secularize. Many Muslims also gave a negative answer, but proudly so: Our true faith would not go down the erroneous path of the godless West.
...
Yet nothing in human history is set in stone. And there are now signs of a new secular wave breeding in the Muslim world.
...
Granted, the trend isn’t huge. Arabs who describe themselves as “not religious” were 8 percent of those polled in 2013, and have risen to only 13 percent in 2018. So some experts on the region, like Hisham A. Hellyer, an Egyptian-British scholar, advises caution.
...
In Iran, the Islamic Republic has ruled for 40 years now, but it has failed in its zeal to re-Islamize society. “Instead, the opposite has happened,” the Middle East scholar Nader Hashemi has observed. “Most Iranians today aspire to live in a democratic, liberal and secular republic, not a religious state run by clerics.” Indeed, many have had enough of those clerics, and are bravely defying them in the streets.

In Turkey, my country, a softer but similar experiment has taken place in the past two decades. Under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s formerly marginalized Islamists have become the new ruling elite. This allowed them to make their faith more visible and assertive — but it is also a fig leaf for their insatiable lust for power. So, as the Turkey-born sociologist Mucahit Bilici has observed, “today Islamism in Turkey is associated in the public mind with corruption and injustice.” And many Turks detest it more than ever before.
...
Islam, at its core, has many virtues to inspire humanity — such as compassion, humility, honesty and charity. But they have been eclipsed for far too long for the sake of power and the dictates of bigotry.

 

[Cooky]

Is this the start of a trend? I hope so. If it is, I suspect we'll see it more clearly in another 5 years or so.
A New Secularism Is Appearing in Islam

Across much of the Islamic world, many Muslims are disillusioned with the ugly things done in the name of their religion.

Many Westerners gave a negative answer, thinking Islam is just too rigid and absolutist to secularize. Many Muslims also gave a negative answer, but proudly so: Our true faith would not go down the erroneous path of the godless West.
...
Yet nothing in human history is set in stone. And there are now signs of a new secular wave breeding in the Muslim world.
...
Granted, the trend isn’t huge. Arabs who describe themselves as “not religious” were 8 percent of those polled in 2013, and have risen to only 13 percent in 2018. So some experts on the region, like Hisham A. Hellyer, an Egyptian-British scholar, advises caution.
...
In Iran, the Islamic Republic has ruled for 40 years now, but it has failed in its zeal to re-Islamize society. “Instead, the opposite has happened,” the Middle East scholar Nader Hashemi has observed. “Most Iranians today aspire to live in a democratic, liberal and secular republic, not a religious state run by clerics.” Indeed, many have had enough of those clerics, and are bravely defying them in the streets.

In Turkey, my country, a softer but similar experiment has taken place in the past two decades. Under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s formerly marginalized Islamists have become the new ruling elite. This allowed them to make their faith more visible and assertive — but it is also a fig leaf for their insatiable lust for power. So, as the Turkey-born sociologist Mucahit Bilici has observed, “today Islamism in Turkey is associated in the public mind with corruption and injustice.” And many Turks detest it more than ever before.
...
Islam, at its core, has many virtues to inspire humanity — such as compassion, humility, honesty and charity. But they have been eclipsed for far too long for the sake of power and the dictates of bigotry.

It would have been better the third paragraph were omitted, the one that starts with "Many Westerners...". It seems out of place with the general theme of the rest of the content, if I'm understanding it correctly.

...That paragraph displays, to me, the perpetual arrogance of Islam against groups - in this case, those called "atheists". That general kind of attitude strikes me as archaic, and bordering on oppressive.

 

[Cooky]

Out of fairness, and balance, it was probably a good idea to include it though -if we intend on understanding in an honest way.

 

[danieldemol]

A positive trend, let’s pray it continues

 

[Left Coast]

Is this the start of a trend? I hope so. If it is, I suspect we'll see it more clearly in another 5 years or so.
A New Secularism Is Appearing in Islam

Across much of the Islamic world, many Muslims are disillusioned with the ugly things done in the name of their religion.

Many Westerners gave a negative answer, thinking Islam is just too rigid and absolutist to secularize. Many Muslims also gave a negative answer, but proudly so: Our true faith would not go down the erroneous path of the godless West.
...
Yet nothing in human history is set in stone. And there are now signs of a new secular wave breeding in the Muslim world.
...
Granted, the trend isn’t huge. Arabs who describe themselves as “not religious” were 8 percent of those polled in 2013, and have risen to only 13 percent in 2018. So some experts on the region, like Hisham A. Hellyer, an Egyptian-British scholar, advises caution.
...
In Iran, the Islamic Republic has ruled for 40 years now, but it has failed in its zeal to re-Islamize society. “Instead, the opposite has happened,” the Middle East scholar Nader Hashemi has observed. “Most Iranians today aspire to live in a democratic, liberal and secular republic, not a religious state run by clerics.” Indeed, many have had enough of those clerics, and are bravely defying them in the streets.

In Turkey, my country, a softer but similar experiment has taken place in the past two decades. Under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s formerly marginalized Islamists have become the new ruling elite. This allowed them to make their faith more visible and assertive — but it is also a fig leaf for their insatiable lust for power. So, as the Turkey-born sociologist Mucahit Bilici has observed, “today Islamism in Turkey is associated in the public mind with corruption and injustice.” And many Turks detest it more than ever before.
...
Islam, at its core, has many virtues to inspire humanity — such as compassion, humility, honesty and charity. But they have been eclipsed for far too long for the sake of power and the dictates of bigotry.

Many critics of Islam in the West seem to think Islam is inherently incapable of integrating progressive, democratic values. The truth is, that thesis actually plays into the hands of the most fundamentalist elements of Islamic societies who insist on the same idea. The evidence you presented here contradicts them.

 

[sun rise]

It would have been better the third paragraph were omitted, the one that starts with "Many Westerners...". It seems out of place with the general theme of the rest of the content, if I'm understanding it correctly.

...That paragraph displays, to me, the perpetual arrogance of Islam against groups - in this case, those called "atheists". That general kind of attitude strikes me as archaic, and bordering on oppressive.

The point of the article was about a slow positive trend line not the current state of the religion.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Is this the start of a trend? I hope so. If it is, I suspect we'll see it more clearly in another 5 years or so.
A New Secularism Is Appearing in Islam

Across much of the Islamic world, many Muslims are disillusioned with the ugly things done in the name of their religion.

Many Westerners gave a negative answer, thinking Islam is just too rigid and absolutist to secularize. Many Muslims also gave a negative answer, but proudly so: Our true faith would not go down the erroneous path of the godless West.
...
Yet nothing in human history is set in stone. And there are now signs of a new secular wave breeding in the Muslim world.
...
Granted, the trend isn’t huge. Arabs who describe themselves as “not religious” were 8 percent of those polled in 2013, and have risen to only 13 percent in 2018. So some experts on the region, like Hisham A. Hellyer, an Egyptian-British scholar, advises caution.
...
In Iran, the Islamic Republic has ruled for 40 years now, but it has failed in its zeal to re-Islamize society. “Instead, the opposite has happened,” the Middle East scholar Nader Hashemi has observed. “Most Iranians today aspire to live in a democratic, liberal and secular republic, not a religious state run by clerics.” Indeed, many have had enough of those clerics, and are bravely defying them in the streets.

In Turkey, my country, a softer but similar experiment has taken place in the past two decades. Under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s formerly marginalized Islamists have become the new ruling elite. This allowed them to make their faith more visible and assertive — but it is also a fig leaf for their insatiable lust for power. So, as the Turkey-born sociologist Mucahit Bilici has observed, “today Islamism in Turkey is associated in the public mind with corruption and injustice.” And many Turks detest it more than ever before.
...
Islam, at its core, has many virtues to inspire humanity — such as compassion, humility, honesty and charity. But they have been eclipsed for far too long for the sake of power and the dictates of bigotry.

It will take a lot of time for Islam to heal the reputation of bring cruel and violent.

I can't help but wonder if this branch of Abrahamic religion is experiencing a modern day crusade phase like medieval Christianity had did in the past when it too, employed brutality and cruelty as it's primary motivator.

 

[Left Coast]

It will take a lot of time for Islam to heal the reputation of bring cruel and violent.

I can't help but wonder if this branch of Abrahamic religion is experiencing a modern day crusade phase like medieval Christianity had did in the past when it too, employed brutality and cruelty as it's primary motivator.

It seems very difficult to disaggregate the effects of Western violence and imperialism on Islam's trajectory from the effects of different factions or ideologies within the religion itself.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

The title strikes me as more than a little awkward. To say that "a new secularism is appearing in Islam" simply makes no sense unless what is meant is that an increasing number of Muslims are leaving Islam and becoming more secular which is, of course, not at all the same.

 

[Cooky]

The point of the article was about a slow positive trend line not the current state of the religion.

So that paragraph represents the current, hopefully soon to be outdated state of the religion. Good.

 

[Cooky]

The title strikes me as more than a little awkward. To say that "a new secularism is appearing in Islam" simply makes no sense unless what is meant is that an increasing number of Muslims are leaving Islam and becoming more secular which is, of course, not at all the same.

True. It would be different if there were some kind of spiritual awakening, that represented a kind of enlightenment *within* Islam. What we see instead, is a breaking away from the faith.

...I'll take either / or.

 

[sun rise]

True. It would be different if there were some kind of spiritual awakening, that represented a kind of enlightenment *within* Islam. What we see instead, is a breaking away from the faith.

...I'll take either / or.

The numbers have always been small, but there have been those like Rumi, Hafiz, Rabia of Basra and many others over the centuries. The fanatics, of course, hate them because their lives are far beyond rigid observances of outdated rules and customs. For example, Hazrat Inayat Khan of the Chisti order in India had this prayer which is about as far from the fanatics as one can get:

Most gracious Lord, Master, Messiah,
And Saviour of Humanity,
We greet Thee with all humility.
Thou art the first cause and the last effect,
The Divine Light and the Spirit of Guidance,
Alpha and Omega.
Thy light is in all forms,
Thy love in all beings,
In a loving mother, in a kind father,
In an innocent child, in a helpful friend,
In an inspiring teacher.
Allow us to recognize Thee
In all Thy holy names and forms;
As Rama, as Krishna, as Shiva, as Buddha;
Let us know Thee as Abraham, as Solomon, as Zarathustra, as Moses, as Jesus, as Mohammed,
And in many other names and forms,
Known and unknown to the world.
We adore Thy past;
Thy presence deeply enlighteneth our beings,
And we look for Thy blessings in the future.
O Messenger, Christ, Nabi, the Rasul of God,
Thou whose heart constantly reacheth upward,
Thou comest on earth with a message,
As a dove from above when dharma decayeth
And speaketh the word that is put into Thy mouth
As the light filleth the crescent moon.
Let the star of the Divine Light shining in Thy heart
Be reflected in the hearts of Thy devotees.
May the Message of God reach far and wide,
Illuminating and making the whole humanity
As one single brotherhood in the fatherhood of God.