The historical truth confirms that Arab and Islamic peoples enjoyed governance under Sharia during the Islamic Caliphate, and did not face the problematic issue of the relationship between religion, politics, and the state. This governance helped shape an Islamic civilization that extended from the 8th to the 15th century CE, making it the longest civilization in human history, the traces of which are still evident today.
Without the dark period of modern colonialism, which included attempts at "Islamic monasticism " and "secularization" of religion, matters of governance and politics remain an integral part of the Islamic conception of God, the universe, humanity, and life. Islam's message included an explicit legal, constitutional, political, and military dimension. This dimension is deeply rooted in Quranic political jurisprudence by blending prophethood with politics, combining justice and benevolence as stated in the Quran: "Indeed, Allah commands justice, grace." (Quran, Surah An-Nahl: 90). This integration reflects the balance between truth and power, and between religion and the state. In Islam, the state is a necessity for transferring practical Sharia rulings from the realm of individual moral obligation to the sphere of collective legal obligation.
The Arab and Islamic world have taken a confrontational approach to secularism, aiming to purge and eliminate it
While there is a new reconciliatory trend between religion and state in the West itself, which has presented secularism to us as a new religion alternative to traditional faith, Pope's call in the Apostolic Guidance in 2012 for 'positive secularism' as a necessity for both religion and politics, is significant. By this, he means 'liberating belief from the burden of politics, enriching politics with the contributions of belief, while maintaining the necessary distance, clear distinction, and indispensable cooperation for both.'
This emphasizes mutual respect between politics and religion, rejecting the ongoing experiment of mixing or battling, by recognizing the social role of religion, as if acknowledging that the essence of secularism is the decline of religious social attraction and the collective sense of independence from it, leading to a situation where religious institutions and symbols lose influence over culture, society, and the state.
However, our Arab and Islamic world has taken the concept of secularism - borrowing its Western philosophical content - as a confrontational plot against religion, aiming to eliminate it. The role of secularism has not been limited to neutralizing religion and separating it from the state only, but it has gone further by intervening in religion itself, imposing new concepts for its practices in public and private life, even enforcing new patterns of life, such as monasticism, as a form of religious seclusion from people, detached from reality and public affairs, without considering the fundamental difference between Islam and Christianity, and that the political dimension of secularism, by separating religion from the state, fundamentally contradicts the nature of Islam and its role in worldly politics through religion.
It is not merely a set of metaphysical theological beliefs or isolated worship rituals, as its legislation encompasses both worldly and otherworldly aspects, spiritual and material dimensions, private and public life, and it governs individual, societal, and state affairs, as God says: “We have left nothing out of the Record.” (Quran 6:38). It is a comprehensive religion that encompasses all aspects of life, as God says: “Today I have perfected your faith for you, completed My favour upon you, and chosen Islam as your way.” (Quran 5:3).
Attempts to Exclude Islam from State and Life Represented the Main Justification for the Establishment of the Modern Islamic Movement
The relentless attempts to exclude Islam from the state and life have represented the strongest justification for the establishment of the modern Islamic movement at the beginning of the twentieth century, within the framework of the civilization revival of the nation. However, the failures experienced by what is secularly termed "political Islam" in terms of political participation experiments and models of governance have caused a profound intellectual and conceptual earthquake. This indicates the engagement of the Islamic movement in a different phase, transitioning into a new stage and embarking on a new birth, where the process of renewal aligns with the prophetic tradition: "Allah will raise for this community at the end of every hundred years the one who will renovate its religion for it." This transition, in the coming century, moves from the awakening phase at the societal level to the renaissance phase at the level of the state, and from there to civilization and global leadership.
Islam is not merely individual worship rituals between the servant and their Lord; it is also revolutionary material against injustice, corruption, and tyranny. Popular religious sentiment has transcended, quantitatively and qualitatively, the organizational capacity of the Islamic movement. The exclusionary or eradicationist approach of regimes towards it only increases its sympathy and presence, in one form or another. The failure of regimes to adhere to democracy, achieve development, and respect political and human values are among the major factors sustaining the Islamic project, fueling its existence and strength today and tomorrow. The box of true democracy in the Arab and Islamic world challenges the notion of "post-Islamism" and rejects the argument of "post-political Islam," as the latter will never give birth to anything that aligns with the identity and civilizational depth of Muslim peoples.
Islam is not just worship rituals between the servant and his Lord, but revolutionary material against injustice, corruption, and tyranny
Popular religiosity has surpassed the organizational capabilities of the Islamic movement, and the Islamic awakening has transitioned from an organizational phenomenon to a societal one. This makes secularism and monasticism crumble before the widespread influence of the Islamic political idea, both popularly and officially, vertically and horizontally. It imposes recognition that Islam is the civilization of tomorrow, possessing inherent power as the living substance of civilization, qualifying it for survival, no matter how human attempts to represent it politically stumble.
The eminent scholar Abd al-Hamid ibn Badis (1889–1940 CE) believed that nations and civilizations go through three stages. He stated in his interpretation (pp. 122, 123) the following: 'Nations, like individuals, go through three stages: the stage of youth, the stage of maturity, and the stage of decline.' He said: 'And there is no nation that does not undergo this general law, even though its stages may vary in length, just as ages vary.' This is because, as he said, the ages of nations are determined by their periods, as in the verse: “For each community there is an appointed term. When their time arrives, they can neither delay it for a moment, nor could they advance it.” (Quran, 7:34). He mentioned the establishment of nations after the demise of the wicked, as in the verse: “(Imagine) how many societies of wrongdoers We have destroyed, raising up other people after them!” (Quran, 21:11). And he mentioned the stage of youth of the nation and its strength, as in the verse: “Perhaps your Lord will destroy your enemy and make you successors in the land to see what you will do.” (Quran, 7:129).
The nation still possesses the elements of potential for a renewed civilizational revival despite attempts at secularization and monasticism
He sees, with a remarkable prophetic vision, not just as a historian but also as a reformer, that there is still potential for the nation to embark on a new civilizational revival. He seeks what can inspire aspirations and instil hope. He argues that civilizations do not necessarily end in eradication and destruction but may simply culminate in suffering, either through occupation and aggression, tyranny and injustice, or corruption and decay. He cites the Quranic verse: “There is not a (wicked) society that We will not destroy or punish with a severe torment before the Day of Judgment. That is written in the Record.” (Quran 17:58). This verse alerts to two types of punishment: destruction or severe torment. This latter type of punishment is what Ibn Badis made the subject of his exposition on his idea of the renewal of the nation's life, its resurgence, and the possibility of its civilizational revival, and its entry into a new cycle of civilization.
The nation still possesses, up to now, the elements of potential for a renewed civilizational revival, despite attempts at secularization and monasticism. It possesses the wealth of human and historical experience embodied in the final prophethood. It possesses the authenticity of the preserved and encompassing heavenly text of ideas and values, as Allah says: "It is certainly We Who have revealed the Reminder, and it is certainly We Who will preserve it." (Quran 15:9). It possesses the correct belief about Allah, the universe, humanity, and life. It possesses the previous practical experience of the Islamic state and civilization. It possesses the extension of the practical model across time and space, according to the textual truth: “A group from my ummah will remain adherent to their faith prevailing over their adversaries. Those who oppose them will not harm them, except for [occasional] hardships, until the command of Allah comes while they are in that state.”
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