On Malaysians and our fear of secularism
Perhaps the fear is much more existential than what we may assume.
On the 30th of May, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr Mahathir Muhammad, announced that a committee shall be formed to reevaluate the position and roles of the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM) in an official press conference. He said that Malaysian Muslims have a habit of imposing rulings that are not in line with Islamic teachings.
“We like to impose religion, when the Quran has said, ‘There is no compulsion in Islam’”, says Tun Dr Mahathir in the press conference.
Personally, I welcome and commend this recent social development by our newly elected government. I see it as a mark of progress where the mistakes of the old order are being debated and, hopefully, we will reach a more enlightened epoch in our nation.
Yet my views are rather unpopular; many Malaysian Muslims took huge offence over Tun M’s statement. A number of them said that he’s doing a disservice to the Muslim majority, ‘regressing’ our country to an impious and secular state, and some even outright labelled him a kafir (infidel).
Quite an overreaction, don’t you think? I don’t find it surprising at all. And as a former Islamist, I understand their reaction to this matter.
Their concerns are not necessarily just about the religious bureau in and itself, but rather about the deeper sentiment behind the Prime Minister’s decision: they fear secularism.
Now I am not interested in arguing whether the constitution is secular or not; I would leave that to the experts who are still arguing over this matter.
But I’m more interested in investigating why Malaysians, especially Malay Muslims, view secularism in a negative light. Why, for the last four decades, Malaysia has been fixated on seeing secularism as a problem and gone on and on with secularism as a threat.
As I talk about secularism, I emphasize the idea and philosophy of secularism, not secular states. In the West, the philosopher John Locke proposed one of the earliest models of secularism in the late 17th century in his work, A Letter Concerning Toleration. The context of the work is regards to his concerns over the Roman Catholic Church’s influence over England. He calls for greater religious tolerance, which is the core of secularism. But in the context of Muslims, they have no Vatican nor a Pope. Which thus, they see no need for secularism.
Secularism is viewed favourably in the West. It incorporates the concepts of progress, democracy, and inclusiveness. However, in the Muslim world, secularism is frequently (erroneously) associated with atheism, libertinage, and nihilism. We frequently assume that secularism leads to lives devoid of values, morals, and direction, resulting in eventual chaos.
This viewpoint is supported by the following quote from Friedrich Nietzsche, one of my all-time favourite philosophers:
God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?
While both Nietzsche and Malaysian Muslims were concerned about the consequences of the loss of religious values and nihilism, Nietzsche advocates inventing greater values and achieving the goal of being the ubermensch by overcoming oneself (Selbstüberwindung). This is a noble ideal.
But what do Malaysian Muslims want? They advocate further distorting and perverting religious values by infusing them with nihilism AND hedonism. “How so?” you might ask. Take note of what they say about God and their belief structures; that God rewards you with virgins (houris) in heaven if you do God’s work. When asked what the role of the man’s wife is in the afterlife, they have an answer. And that is to keep an eye on the virgins. Such flimsy pleasures!
Not to mention how Islamic economies contribute to nihilism. This results in the destruction of heritage sites such as the tombs of Prophet Muhammad’s family in Saudi Arabia, as well as the clearing of land, which has an impact on the environment. Of course, Malaysian Muslims tend to avoid discussing this topic for fear of being accused of blasphemy.
In addition, we have a long history of colonialism, and our anti-colonial sentiments are still strong today. It’s understandable that Malaysian Muslims associate secularism with the colonialism and inquisition imposed by Western ‘heathen’ imperialists.
This sentiment seems ironic coming from people who follow a religion that originated in the Arabian peninsula, pray in Arabic five times a day towards the Kaaba (which is located in Saudi Arabia), greet each other in Arabic, and have adopted many Arabic customs. Their definition of ‘imperialism’ appears to be somewhat selective to me.
As much as I despise all forms of imperialism, I can’t help but notice the obvious bias expressed by the majority of Malaysian Muslims.
I would argue that Islam does not contradict the idea of a secular state. In fact, I would say that Muslims would benefit as individuals not from the Islamic theocratic state, but from a secular society. I consider the concept of Islamism to be rather modern, and if we regard other theocratic states, like Saudi Arabia, Brunei, Iran, etc., they are often authoritarian, totalitarian, brutal and intellectually arrogant nations with their own abstraction of Islam.
It seems to me that Muslims can live in a secular state that is neutral to every belief in a freer Islamic life. There are secular and liberal Muslims who embrace the idea of living and allowing life, freedom, the separation of state and religion. In comparison with the theocratic conservative Muslims, they are vastly underrepresented in many Muslim majority countries. In many non-religious countries, they are afraid of religiously-inspired legal codes, which prevent them from presenting their arguments.
And that, as a Malaysian secularist, I believe is what we need to stand up for.
