THOUGHTS ON SECULARIZATION DURING THE FIRST CENTURIES OF ISLAM

Abstract

Presented as a pure outcome of the Western culture, secularization – understood as a transfer
of theological rules to the political field and as a progressive limitation of the Religious to the
private sphere – is often described as a process which is at odds with the religious principles
of Islam, and can even be considered as a denial of its human and civilizational experiences.
This thesis which has been developed during the 20th century in schools of thought that claim
to be ‘Islamist’ involve researches on the political specificity of Islam and the so called exclusive identity through which we would apprehend within this culture the concepts of State, of
Constitution or of Sovereignty. Against this thesis, the article seeks to draw attention on the
presence of a strong secular tradition in Islam and relies on some major figures of the religious and political thought in order to show the existence of a problematized approach of ‘religious facts’. This contribution also invites to follow the tracks of a strong critical reflection
on tolerance and intolerance, on fanaticism, on the possibilities of ‘living together’ or on the
(often conflictual) relationships between Religion and Politics