A Critique of the Justifiability of Secularism through the Lens of Quranic Teachings

Secularism emerged in the West under the influence of a number of factors, such as the separation of religious authority from worldly authority in Christians' scriptures. Likewise, in the Muslim world, some Muslim analysts who follow this point of view interpret some Quranic verses in such a way that their interpretation turns out to be a secularist one just as is the case in Christianity. As a case in point, by referring to the verses 58 and 59 of Surah Al-Nisa', they argue that the Prophet (s) does not have the authority to rule, and therefore obeying him in all the affairs of Islamic state would not be absolute and that even God has commanded that the issue of establishing the state be within the control of people. This is while firstly the majority of Islamic programs are not feasible without establishing a state. Therefore, the Holy Prophet (s) not only founded a state himself, but he also determined the state after him by the Divine command; and secondly, 'Uli al-Amr, whom Allah the Exalted has commanded people to obey unconditionally in the same way as they obey Him, are the Infallible Imams (‘a) and not lay people; otherwise it would defeat the purpose of sending prophets as well as Divine guidance. In fact, Islamic traditions have also corroborated this interpretation of 'Uli al-Amr. Thirdly, the verse that commands the Trust to be entrusted to those who are qualified for it, suggests assigning Imamate to Imams of Ahl al-Bayt (‘a) and not people.