many semi-educated people believe secularism means atheism, unaware of the fact that constitutions of all the developed countries do not stipulate a religion and most of them do not teach religion in their curricula. however, the athaan (call for prayers) are heard five times in their mosques and bells in their churches ring several times every week. there are also temples for all faiths, sects, and even husseiniyas and every religious person who lives there irrespective to his/her faith feels religious freedom especially if he/she is an immigrant or a fugitive from his homeland, which unfortunately is often a muslim.
anti-secularism usually stems from ignorance of the meaning of the word, and how its application might constitute a threat to those who benefit from the survival of clerical control over people’s lives. when the state becomes secular, the advantages of the cleric will be eroded, and his influence will wane among the people.
the word secularism is one of the most exposed to misunderstanding and confusion either because of being ignorant or deliberately, insisting on its link to atheism to such an extent approaching secularism has come close to evil.
this confusion is primarily due to the modernity of the word. the word in arabic ‘almaniya’ is derived from the world alam (world) in which we are, and from the ilm (modern science), and we simply reject the full belonging of the world around us and its human covenants. we also reject the trend of modernity, development and industrialization.
secularism began with the advent of the european rebellion during the renaissance era among forces which represented the spiritual power which was eventually forced to cede to the powers of the civil society. this could have been the course of most of our countries as happened with the rest of the world, albeit at a pace, but the rise of the fundamentalist tide in the middle of the twentieth century and its rise in culture, politics and even the economy supported by various political systems had made it very difficult to adopt secularism.
only president bourguiba of tunisia, had succeeded partially and fundamentalism became a fashion, where everything was described as ‘islamic’ from financial instruments up to the clothing. in spite of all this backwardness, the enlightened people had to call for secularism, that is to say the state or the government stand at a distance from the followers of all faiths, sects and races and this is what we will reach eventually.
in 1968, i became an administrative officer, and my responsibility was and still is to interview and recruit those who seek employment. i never select a candidate based on gender, nationality or religion. i remembered this fact a few days ago when a staff member asked me to help him enroll his son at the kuwait university because his financial circumstances and his status as a palestinian do not allow him to send him to study abroad, despite his son being smart or rather qualified.
it was not easy for me to contact a senior official and ask him to accept a student at kuwait university. what would be my condition if he refused? and why do i do a favor for others. what would happen to me if this student did something wrong in the future, so it will be embarrassing, but after a short hesitation i sent the student’s certificates to the senior official and he welcomed me with all kindness, and offered his help.
the father of the student was very appreciative and i suddenly noticed the big prayer mark on his forehead, his long beard, and all the manifestations of religious extremism, and i was surprised at how i did not pay attention to this. instead of regretting what i did, helping a fanatic, i was overwhelmed by happiness.
i proved to myself again my humanitarian aspect, and it was my secularism that prompted me to do what i did, which is certainly very difficult to expect from the other side.