A post-secular nation?
MUSLIMS, the world over, are in a quandary. Continuing terrorism by a small segment of Muslims in the name of jihad against "infidels" and their reportage in the global media have resulted in the framing of Western attitude towards the Muslims as a people chained to their roots and unable to adapt their system of politico-economic governance and social life in accordance with democratic principles understood "as a universal ideal (and) as the capacity of men to control their life in society through communicative reason and public institutions (Carlo Galli of University of Bologna-Reset Sept/Oct 2007)."
Only about a quarter of Britons, reveals a recent survey of British social attitudes, have favourable views about Muslims. Likewise, the Islamic Society of Britain, in a survey conducted in 2002, found a considerable part of British society suspicious of Muslim diaspora after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. More than two-thirds blamed the Muslim community of doing little or nothing to promote tolerance towards other faiths though admitting that their own values have very little in common with that of the Muslims.
The dissonance between the two major "civilisations" has found its way from academic discussions to real world discriminations against the Muslims condemned to poverty, low pay, unemployment and social exclusion, with inevitable rebellion by second generation Muslim immigrants in Western countries who, having little ties with the "homeland" of their ancestors, feel aggrieved by the attack on their culture.
The Swiss vote banning construction of minarets and hefty fine on Muslim women wearing veils in France are some examples of Western attempts to impose their mores on Muslim society abroad. This brings up the question of the world stepping into "post-secular" period defined by German sociologist Jurgen Habermas as societies where religion lays claims to public influence and relevance beyond the religious arena, destroying secularist certainty that religion would eventuality disappear in the face of accelerated modernisation (A post-secular society? What does it means,10-09-2008).
The resurgence of religion, according to Habermas, has been due to missionary expansion, fundamentalist radicalisation, and political instrumentalisation of the potential for violence "innate in many religions of the world." Patrick Glynn (George Washington University) thinks that the West is "entering a new chapter in its intellectual history…intermarriage of scientific and theological insight may well presage a new post-secular stage in Western thought."
Hitherto the affluent West was considered to be secular because of the wealth they possessed. They found little need to seek divinity's help for acquisition of material gains. The US, however, was always regarded an exception among the developed economies where religion plays in important role in public affairs, as evidenced during the election of George W. Bush to the presidency and the negative influence of the Jewish lobby in US politics noted by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt's (The Israeli lobby and US foreign Policy-March 2006) postulation that Israel is a strategic liability for the US and contributes significantly to anti-American feeling in the Islamic world.
Undoubtedly, the terrorism by the Taliban and al-Qaeda has contributed to growing Western conviction of Islam's inability to conform to the rigours of liberal democracy because, in the words of Jurgen Habermas, "their form of worship combines spiritualism and adventism with rigid moral conceptions and literal adherence to the holy scriptures."
It is not difficult to understand Western hesitation to accept Islamic claim to democracy because democratic order cannot be imposed by its authors, and religious citizens and communities are expected to appropriate the secular principles that a multicultural society would demand. The quest for material advancement would necessitate the closest possible interaction with the West by developing countries, and leave aside the quarrels on religion and certainly oppose the al-Qaeda variety of terrorism that aims at establishment of theocratic system of governance in both the Muslim and non-Muslim countries through violent means.
One way, suggests Ali Eteraz, an outstanding scholar at the US Justice Department (Pakistan is already an Islamic State-Dissent), that Pakistan's deliverance would not come from is the dilution of the 1973 Constitution that made Islam the state religion, albeit a pragmatic strategy given Pakistan's flirtation with religion by successive military rulers and no less by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, but through deletion of religion from the state governance. But then the Red Mosque incident amply demonstrated that highlighting one's grievances through the lens of Islam had thoroughly seeped into the core of Pakistani society.
What is seemingly difficult for Pakistan may not be so difficult for Bangladesh. Traditionally, Bangladeshis have peacefully co-existed with people of other faiths. Bangladesh is not familiar with sectarian conflict within Islam. Although initially Bangladesh opted for a secular nationalist ideology as embodied in its Constitution, the principle of secularism was subsequently replaced by a commitment to the Islamic way of life through a series of constitutional amendments and government proclamations between 1977 and 1988.
The amendments included that the principles of absolute trust and faith in Almighty Allah, nationalism, democracy and socialism -- meaning economic and social justice -- together with the principles derived from them shall constitute the fundamental principles of state policy. Given the opportunity provided by the Supreme Court, which declared the 5th amendment to the Constitution illegal, our political leaders may opt for deletion of both the 5th and the 8th amendments to the Constitution and demonstrate the superiority of transformational leadership over a transactional one. It would solidify the people into one and avoid socio-economic exclusion of any group.
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