.... Curiously, few Westerners are likely to dwell on the part of that sentence likely to stir the most unease among many in the Middle East: the word “secular.” It might sound innocuous to the Western ear, even simply a synonym for “modern.” But for Muslims in this part of the world, “secular” is a complicated word.
Of course, many of those who reject secularism do so because they believe we must all live as the prophet Muhammad did. To this group, the failure to do so isn’t just a lapse, it’s tantamount to atheism.
Naturally, not all Muslims equate “secular” with “atheist,” but to al-Qaeda and other traditionalists, the relationship between secularism and apostasy is clear, and it is a grave matter. (Saudi Arabia and Iran, for all their support of Syria’s future secularism, are resolutely without it themselves.) [The Washington Post] Read more
