For most Muslims "secularism" remains a loaded term, equated to everything from mild eccentricity to an unnatural act of blasphemy. Part of the reason why secularism is eyed with such suspicion in the Muslim world is because it is seen as an interloper from the world of Judeo-Christian ideas, far removed from the framework of the Shari'a and therefore a threat to Islam itself. Muslim thinkers who put secularism above the dogma of a theocratic Islamic State have been few and far between.

The first Muslim scholar to formally champion secularism was the Egyptian judge, Shaykh Ali Abd al-Raziq (1888-1966), in his seminal work al-Islam wa 'Usul al-Hukm (Islam and the Principles of Governance), published in 1925. The controversy and events that followed the publication of this tract marked an apogee in the debate on religion and its role in politics, waged in the Islamic world between the forces of orthodoxy and reformism.

The book provoked fierce opprobrium from within the orthodox establishment of Cairo who took exception to its uncompromising ideas. As punishment, al-Raziq was made to face the Council of the Greatest Ulama of al-Azhar, where he was stripped of his qualifications and his right to practice. The day after the Ulama had ruled against him, a reporter interviewed al-Raziq and asked him to explain the main points of his book. He replied:

The main points of the book, for which I have been condemned, is that Islam did not determine a specific regime nor did it impose on the Muslims a particular system according to the requirements of which they must be governed; rather it has allowed us absolute freedom to organise the state in accordance with the intellectual, social and economic conditions in which we are found, taking into consideration our social development and the requirements of the times.

Read more @ The Guardian's Comment Is Free