The Sacred and the Secular: Promoting Muslim Democracy
The presence of religion in public space challenges our ideas about the roles of faith in our lives and politics. Over the last centuries, proponents of secularization have claimed that as societies modernize, the role of religion in public and private life diminishes. For them, modern rationality, science, and the ideal of representative governments as sovereign replace religion as a source of authority, regulation, and security.
Religious Pluralism and Democracy on Show in Egypt
Religious pluralism is one of the few, truly, modern, expressions. The term refers to the acceptance of a multitude of religions existing in harmony despite internal doctrinal differences and variations in external rituals and practices. Although the term itself hails only from the 20th century, one might argue that the idea has been around for much longer and has been part of a Muslim ethos from a very early period.
The Taliban takes over
On Sunday May 22nd, TTP terrorists attacked the Mehran navy air base in Karachi. In an 18-hour assault, 10 militants stormed the military facility, destroying two US made surveillance planes and killing 12 soldiers. The TTP claimed responsibility for the attack, linking it to Osama Bin Laden’s death. The incident is another example of the TTP’s reach and highlights the alarming inability of the Pakistani armed forces to protect its key military infrastructure.
Faith and Free Speech
Religion, that private balm for the soul, often enters the public space when politics forcibly pulls it through. The Federation of Malaysia is no exception. The Federal Constitution, crafted by our founding fathers at independence in 1957, attempted to accommodate our multicultural society by defining specifically who the main inhabitants of the country were.
Religion and the Public Sphere in India
In contrast to most South Asian countries, modern India has always been officially “secular”, a word the country inscribed in its Constitution in 1976. Secularism, here, is not synonymous with the French “laïcité”, which demands strong separation of religion and the state. India’s secularism does not require exclusion of religion from the public sphere. On the contrary, it implies recognition of all religions by the state. This philosophy of inclusivity finds expression in one article of the Constitution by which all religious communities may set up schools that are eligible for state subsidies.
The Fate of Minorities in the Arab Spring
From the shores of the Atlantic to the Persian Gulf, women and men in many Arab-Muslim countries are demanding that their rulers democratize, and that dictators monopolizing power and national wealth for their own profit step down. Many observers have long underestimated and some even denied the great aspiration of the Arab people for democracy. But the ongoing extraordinary turmoil demonstrates the universality of the demand for human rights, and that adherence to Islam does not preclude desire for democracy. So far, despite some fears, Arab revolutions have led to neither xenophobia nor anti-Western demonstrations, nor a significant breakthrough for Islamists.
Most Popular
Most Read
- What's More Dangerous: Muslims or Islamophobia? 19 comment(s)
- What's More Dangerous: Muslims or Islamophobia? 17 comment(s)
- Secrecy is the problem, not leakers 6 comment(s)
- Solving the burqa debate 4 comment(s)
- Secularize, then democratize 4 comment(s)
Stay Connected