Islam Should be Separate from the State
Turkish Daily News, Turkey’s largest newspaper, published an op-ed written by yours truly. The title of the column is “Islam Should Be Separated from the State.”
The main point obviously is that, although Islam provides one with great guidelines about how to live in one’s private life, one should not mix Islam with government. Doing so is, I argue, dangerous and counterproductive; mixing religion with government has historically always turned out for the worst. Sometimes not separating the two went alright for a while, but in the long term, the result was always stagnation.
The column was written in response to one published at the same newspaper that argued the opposite (to a degree at least); the author believed that there should be more room for religion in the affairs of the state.
My opinion is most likely not considered controversial in the West, but in other parts of the world is most certainly is. I received several angry e-mails from my fellow Moslems, telling me that separating state and religion is horrible and evil. Furthermore, these individuals argued in their e-mails, the Islamic world was once a safe haven for scientists and the sciencies. When Europe was suffering from the Dark Ages, the Islamic world was progressing rapidly; culturally, economically, and scientifically.
The interesting things is that I do not argue against the above in the column. My point is not that mixing the two cannot go alright for a while; it can. The point is that sooner or later, things will go horrible wrong. Traditionalists will take over, freedom will be limited, and society will stagnate.
That is not something I am making up. It is a historical truth. If we should learn one lesson from history it is that religion-based governments always result in oppression and stagnation. Either in the short run (see modern day Iran and Saudi Arabia) or in the long run (Ottoman Empire).
True Michael, the problem with these types of people is that they think they can justify every action of theirs based on their ill-advised understanding of Islam and unfortunately this category of people to me is the most dangerous one since they think whatever they do is not wrong and supported by God.
So they wrap up their plans and actions with an abused sense of religion and they think that when they put on the table like that it should always be accepted by others no matter what. Hence the oppression and limits on freedom.
Michael, I really enjoyed reading this article. So much so that, I even put it in my blog …
thanks!
Ok let’s seperate Islam from the Turkish state, I mean not just exclude it from certain domains, but really seperate. Stop religion classes in public schools and state funding of the Diyanet. Instead, mosques should be locally run by their congregations, who should also finance them.