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Secularism and Islam — conflict or concord

العلمانية والإسلام — صدام أم وئام

The 'Al-Wasatiyya' episode on secularism and Islam. The studio youth voted: 43% could define secularism, 57% could not; 1 on its spread in the Arab world: 24% weak, 42% medium, the rest strong; 2 on whether the two can meet: 65% judged the equation impossible, a third possible. 3 Panelists distinguished a minimum level (separating religion from politics) from a maximum (separating it from all of life), and Omar al-Shobaki showed secularism is not one model: the French (laïcité) bars every religious symbol in public institutions, the Anglo-Saxon permits personal observance but not state adoption, and the Turkish was the harshest in practice. 4 5 6

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Contemporary Era
Region
Arab world · al-Andalus & Europe · Global / Diaspora
Review
Completeness 2/5 · Help complete it

Da'wa and Christian missionLaw and courts

The episode and the votes

The fifth 'Al-Wasatiyya' episode posed the question of secularism and Islam: necessary conflict or possible concord? 7 The studio youth voted: 43% could define secularism, 57% could not; 1 on its spread in the Arab world: 24% weak, 42% medium; 2 on whether it can meet Islam: 65% judged it impossible, a third found a formula possible 3.

The definition — a spectrum, not a single bar

Definitions graded across the panel: for Ramadan, 'using scientific reason to manage life at both its private and public levels' — science may even serve religion within a frame; 8 9 for Muhammad Saad, citing Western dictionaries: not adopting religion as the reference for education and morals (Oxford), working for this world not the next (Britannica); 10 11 for Omar al-Shobaki: separating religion from the public sphere, born in conflict with the Church's authority, not religion itself — so it cannot be counted inherently atheist; 12 13 14 for Ammar Ali Hassan two levels: partial (religion separated from politics and economics) and total (from all of life); 15 16 and for Muhammad Jamal Hishma the founding definition — transfer of authority from religious to civil institutions — plus the Turkish AKP's own written definition: religious freedom, civil authority, pluralism 17 18 19.

Three models — France, the Anglo-Saxon, Turkey

Al-Shobaki detailed that secularism is not one shape: the French (laïcité) is harshest — it separates public institutions from religion completely, down to the cross on a school blackboard, and the state neither funds religious institutions nor exempts them from tax since the 1905 law; 20 5 21 the Anglo-Saxon is softer — permits personal religious display (the hijab in a state school) but bars state adoption of religious content; 22 6 and early Turkey was severest — the mosque imam removed turban and robe outside his mosque 23 24 25. The only common thread across all models: separating religion from politics — and even that was never fully achieved at their extreme; the West never managed to remove religion altogether 26 25 27.

The closing question — tolerant secular or despotic religious rule

The panelists rejected the host's binary: 'the question is loaded' — what is wanted is an Islamic rule that accepts the other and affirms freedom and pluralism; 28 one said ordinary people want a system providing food, clothing and medicine before elite debates; 29 another said despotism is rejected whatever its dress; 30 one chose a secular rule that respects religions over a religious rule imposing one opinion 31.

The host's conclusion — centrist Islam dispenses with it

Al-Suwaidan closed: what all the models share — electing the ruler and the people's power to remove him, respecting freedom — 'is a deeply authentic part of Islam'; Islam was distorted by intellectual claims and historical applications, while centrist Islam comfortably absorbs what the West needed secularism for — 'centrist Islam dispenses with secularism' 32 33 34 35.

Opinions on the question

First opinion · Sunni tradition (the museum's frame)Main reference

Basis: Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) al-wassitiya ep05, closing 01:18:00-01:20:00

More opinions (1)

Other viewOther opinion

Basis: Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) al-wassitiya ep05, 00:08:00-00:14:30

People and things also explored

Ahliyya (legal capacity: to have rights and duties, and to act; its stages from the womb to full maturity, and what impairs it)· Democracy and the Sharia — compatibility and conflict· Fatwa on the satellite channels — its benefit and harm· The contemporary Islamic discourse — maturity versus reactivity· Stoning (rajm) as a penalty for zina· Allusion to a proposal during the waiting period· Aman (safe-conduct granted to enemies in war)· Amana (trust, deposit and what is entrusted)

Sources

  1. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 5, at 00:06:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  2. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 5, at 00:27:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  3. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 5, at 00:45:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  4. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 5, at 00:15:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  5. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 5, at 00:16:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  6. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 5, at 00:18:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  7. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 5, at 00:01:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  8. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 5, at 00:08:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  9. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 5, at 00:08:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  10. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 5, at 00:09:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  11. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 5, at 00:09:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  12. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 5, at 00:11:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  13. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 5, at 00:11:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  14. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 5, at 00:12:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  15. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 5, at 00:12:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  16. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 5, at 00:13:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  17. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 5, at 00:13:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  18. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 5, at 00:14:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  19. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 5, at 00:14:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  20. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 5, at 00:15:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  21. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 5, at 00:16:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  22. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 5, at 00:17:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  23. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 5, at 00:19:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  24. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 5, at 00:19:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  25. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 5, at 00:20:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  26. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 5, at 00:21:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  27. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 5, at 00:20:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  28. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 5, at 01:14:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  29. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 5, at 01:15:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  30. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 5, at 01:17:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  31. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 5, at 01:16:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  32. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 5, at 01:18:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  33. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 5, at 01:18:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  34. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 5, at 01:19:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  35. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 5, at 01:20:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Secularism and Islam — conflict or concord”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/al-ilmaniyya-wal-islam/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-26.

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Ideas

Beliefs, concepts, sciences and schools, explained in plain words. Related

Ahliyya (legal capacity: to have rights and duties, and to act; its stages from the womb to full maturity, and what impairs it)

Ahliyya is lexically suitability, and it is of two kinds: capacity to have rights and duties, the capacity of liability; and capacity to act, that is to perform acts recognised by the law. Its bearer passes through the stages of the foetus, childhood, discernment, puberty and maturity. Liability is complete from birth and incomplete for the foetus; the capacity to act is partial at discernment and full with puberty and reason. It is affected by heavenly impediments such as madness, imbecility, sleep, fainting, illness, slavery, menstruation, childbirth and death, and by acquired ones such as ignorance, drunkenness, jest, folly, travel, error and coercion.