Book Review: Faith and Intellect: A Semi-Secular Discourse on Socio Political issues and Divine Revelation

Abstract

We have here an accountant write on accountability. Faith and its relation to Intellect is a perennial theme. From the days of Plotinus onwards there has been an effort to bring about harmony between Belief and Philosophy. Muslim philosophy began as commentaries on Greek philosophy, so the first manifestation was political.

The Caliphate began as a republican office, but soon became imperial. The struggle in the Middle East was between competing caliphates, while in Europe the struggle was between Empire and Papacy. The term secular derives from this conflict. Revenue records classified Church and Secular land separately. Thus, secularism stands for what Syed Shabbar Zaidi has had to call semi-secular. Since semi-secular also implies semi-religious, it means that Shabbar Zaidi finds the term secular inadequate.

In Islamic lands there are different revenue rates Kharaj for non-Muslims and Ushr for Muslims. Strictly speaking then, secular in the context of Islam is like speaking of goal posts in a cricket match. In Islam a mosque cannot be built on illegally or forcibly acquired land. Secularism, then does not denote the irreligious, but divides worship from other human activities. Ritually those acts requiring ablution and those not. In Islam we have the rights of God and the rights of worshippers. In punitive terms if a creature injures another creature, God will not forgive the errant creature unless the injured worshipper forgives,