Religion Politics

Religion, Politics & Islam Essay, Research Paper

RELIGION, POLITICS & ISLAM

Can they be separated.

YAMIN ZAKARIA

CONTENTS:

Introduction

The Rise of the Secular Society

What is Religion.

The view of Islam towards Religion and Society

The Meaning of Politics

Keep Your Religion To Yourself

Evidences

Diversions

TMQ = Translation of the Qur’an

It should be perfectly clear that the Qur’ an is authentic only in its original language, Arabic. Since perfect translation of the Qur’ an is impossible, the term Translation of the Meaning of the Qur’an (TMQ) has beenused throughout the book as the result is only a crude meaning of the Arabic text.

swt = subhanahu wa ta’ala saw sallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam

AH = After Hijrah

CE = Christian Era

INTRODUCTION

The gradual development of the modern secular society in the West has led to the separation of religion from the state. Religion has become a matter of personal choice for the individual. Therefore, religion has no role to play within the affairs of the state or the society at large. This is the perception of religion by the current secular societies which exist throughout the world. In any secular society the role of religion is subservient to the interest of the state. Secularism is at its strongest in the West and this is only natural since this is its birth place. The West, through military and/or economic colonialism and propaganda, have forced most other nations to adopt this course.

In order to understand why such a course has been taken by the West, we first need to analyse the historical events, because it is only through a series of historical events, that our present situation has come to existence.

RISE OF THE SECULAR SOCIETY

Throughout the Middle Ages Europe was ruled by a ruthless feudal system, which was upheld by the Monarch, Nobility and the Church. The principle philosophy was that man’s position in this life was predestined by God, so a blacksmith was born as a blacksmith and a king was born as a king, their destiny being fixed and decided. This only helped to maintain the status quo, and oppression over the mainly poor class prevailed at large. The situation naturally led to conflict between the subject and the state, and this struggle continued to gain momentum throughout the Middle Ages. Thus the term Middle Ages was often used synonymously with the Dark Ages because to a European this is the darkest period in their history.

The Church continued to justify the feudal situation of the country, and through corruption, it became very powerful institution in terms of wealth and influence. It is well known just how wealthy the Catholic Church grew through ‘donations’, a place in the heavens was sold by the Church in exchange for gold. This type of corruption led to dissatisfaction and eventually a revolt by Martin Luther, who later commented that the Pope was a glowing worm in a cowpat. It was this revolt that led to the reformation, which in turn led to the formation of the Protestant Church. This was a crippling blow to the Catholic institution.

At the same time a period of discovery and science started to take place in Europe. This often led to confrontation with the Church’s teachings, for example the discovery by Galileo that the earth revolved round the sun and not the reverse as proposed by the clergymen. Similarly the discovery of the fourth continent, namely Australia, caused friction as the Church taught that there are only three continents. one can continue to quote many more examples, but the Church and the Monarch did its best to suppress this knowledge to maintain its grip on society.

The society on the other hand was moving away from the dogmas of the state, particularly the Church. This was the period of Renaissance, when Europe began to open its horizon. Scientific discoveries led to the Industrial Revolution, and the balance of power in the international arena shifted towards Europe. The industrial revolution provided her with heavy industries, which provided powerful weapons and thus period of conquering and colonisation began.

The intellectuals also began to move against the Church. Niccolo Machiavelli, in his book The Prince, set out the cause for a nation state rather then a Christian state. Europe was turning away from the Christian state to the concept of a nation state. Due to the suppression by the ruling power the call for freedom became very strong, religion was beginning to be perceived as superstitious and backwards. Prominent thinkers and politicians like John Locke, Thomas Hubb, Montisque and Rousseau called for the individuals to be free and not in chains. Jean Jacques Rousseau, in his book The Social Contract, stated “Man is born free but he is in chains everywhere”. This expression meant the man has the will to decide his own fate and it is not predetermined by God, so man is free and man in essence is good. It is the state that has enslaved him, so that he is in chains and the state exists without man’s consent. So there was a turning away from the feudal system and moved towards a more free society where all citizens could decide their destiny. It was Rousseau that eventually inspired the French revolution which led to the downfall of the opp

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