Are Secularism and Islam Incompatible?
clearly and consistently declared that religion would have nothing to do with the business of the state. The debate is whether the concept of the separation of church from state acceptable to Islamic discourse. There are obviously two camps, one which believes that yes it is and the other one which believes that such a concept is alien to the Islamic understanding of politics. For the remainder of the article I will refer to the former as ’secular muslims’ and the latter as ’Islamists’. Allama Iqbal, the poet-philosopher who the Islamists don’t tire quoting, was infact the first to accept that a separation of church and state is indeed possible in the Islamic political thought. While defending the Republic of Turkey and its actions, Allama said in his famous lecture on ’The Principle of Movement in the Structure of Islam’ : “They therefore reject old ideas about functions of state and religion and accentuate the separation of church and state. The structure of Islam as a religio-politi
