Friday, 7 June 2013
Islam
I have been reading about Islam over the last few days, and some of the similarities (to me, anyway) between the beliefs of a practising Muslim and the teachings of Buddhism made me want to know more. For example, "wasat", means the middle way between two extremes…or moderation and consensus in arriving at decisions; the "ummah" is the society or community of Muslims forming a self-helping, self-regulating and self-levelling society; and Muslims believe in tolerance with a complete lack of racial prejudice. I decided to do a quick search for "secular Islam" and "secular Muslim" but other than finding individual's sites and blogs about being secular and brought up in a Muslim society, I couldn’t find anything that used the teachings of the Qur'an within a secular context. Of course, as Muslims accept the Qur'an to be direct divine revelation and the "laws of God", any rewriting of the Qur'an could be viewed as blasphemous so maybe that's why? I did come across this site http://freethoughtnation.com/index.php and although the site suggests it’s for free thinkers, agnostics and secularists I'm not sure about it yet, some of the articles seemed to take an anti-religious stance rather presenting a reasoned argument. You may find it interesting, though.
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I am a Muslim and from what little I have read, I also find similarities between the Quran and Buddhism.
ReplyDeleteFor ex Dharma means "Law that "upholds, supports or maintains the regulatory order of the universe". Islam also has the same idea when referring to God's law.
Both Buddhism and Islam are a "way of life".
I don't know why you are searching for "secular Muslim" But "secularism" is about separation of "church" and state---Islam does not have a church (organized religion) so the western understanding of secularism cannot apply.
Because Islam is a religion of Law (like Judaism), Traditionally there was a separation of Law and State.
Thank you for your valued contribution. I was using the search for Secular Islam to see if anyone was advocating the use of the teachings of the Quran in a non-religious context despite the Quran being the direct word of God; so that the Quran's teachings were being treated philosophically rather than religiously. In a Buddhist context, secular Buddhism does not advocate the religious/worship aspect of many forms of Buddhism but still uses the teachings of the Buddha as a means of living one's life; quoting from the Secular Buddhist website, " Secular Buddhism is concerned with the practice of Siddhattha Gotama’s Four Noble Truths in this world. It encourages a practical approach to the teaching using reflective human experience as a basis of judgement, and seeking to provide a framework for personal and social development within the cultural context of our time."
DeleteThe Quran has much wisdom concerning business contracts and conduct, government treaties and administration, family relations, community relations, Justice (Jurisprudence, social justice, economic justice...etc) and most importantly spirituality......These wisdom teachings are based on ethico-moral principles therefore one does not necessarily need to be a "Muslim" in order to use them (in fact, the Quran does not use this word as a label for a religious group---it uses it as denoting a degree/level of spirituality).......However---the main principle on which all these ethico-moral principles are based---is called Tawheed(Unity). (Its opposite is Shirk (Division).
ReplyDeleteFor example---Tawheed (Unity) = ONE God. This means that all of humanity...and all of creation was created by this One God. If there is only One God in existence, then all of humanity worships this one God irrespective of our different concepts of God or the labels of our religion/philosophy. This framework leads to an understanding of the "Unity of Humanity".
Likewise, other concepts/principles such as liberty, justice, equality, responsibility, fraternity....etc all start with the premise of Tawheed(Unity).
The purpose of Tawheed (Unity) is to create balance and harmony which leads to peace.
Breaking the Quranic ethico-moral principles from Tawheed (Unity) creates an imbalance in the concepts. For example, Tawheed unites principles....Liberty(rights) and Responsibility are two sides of the same coin and one without the other creates an imbalance. Justice/Accountability and Compassion/Mercy go together---to have a discourse on one aspect without considering its relation to the other principle creates an imbalance.
Therefore---though one does not need to be a Muslim or to worship a God to use the ethico-moral principles of the Quran----One DOES need to understand Tawheed (Unity) in order to implement the full spirit behind these principles. Perhaps this may make it impractical to be "secular" as this term is understood in the West.
As to the practical approach----Islam has a 1,400 year history and these principles have been successfully implemented in multicultural, multi-religious, pluralistic societies....though colonialism destroyed much of these systems/structures.
Thank your for your insightful words, it will take me a few days to absorb them. In the meantime, have you come across this site... http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/
DeleteYes, I have visited it and other sites...though its been a while.........
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