GITA SAHGAL - Secular space: bridging the religious-secular divide?
I do think that the term ‘moderate Islamist’ is an oxymoron. As the Egyptian journalist Ibrahim Essa, who was arrested 70 times under Mubarak, said, ‘Under Mr. Mubarak, I was threatened only with prison; under Mr. Morsi, my life was in danger’.
the feminist theologian Amina Wadud, based in the US, and the Malaysian organization Sisters in Islam, clearly understand that they need to operate in a secular space without which they simply would not be able to conduct their feminist interpretations of religion.
I would be interested to know whether any real ‘due diligence’ has been done to assess the harm done by the policy of treating the Muslim Brotherhood and the Jamaat e Islami as partners of government at various points in the ‘War on Terror’. Indeed, so enthusiastic has the British government been in these partnerships that they awarded the National Health Service post of Muslim Spiritual Care Provision to Chowdury Mueen Uddin, founder of the Jamaat-linked Muslim Council of Britain, vice-chair of the East London Mosque, and a leader of the attack on The Satanic Verses. Mueen Uddin has just been convicted of war crimes in Bangladesh
the feminist theologian Amina Wadud, based in the US, and the Malaysian organization Sisters in Islam, clearly understand that they need to operate in a secular space without which they simply would not be able to conduct their feminist interpretations of religion.
I would be interested to know whether any real ‘due diligence’ has been done to assess the harm done by the policy of treating the Muslim Brotherhood and the Jamaat e Islami as partners of government at various points in the ‘War on Terror’. Indeed, so enthusiastic has the British government been in these partnerships that they awarded the National Health Service post of Muslim Spiritual Care Provision to Chowdury Mueen Uddin, founder of the Jamaat-linked Muslim Council of Britain, vice-chair of the East London Mosque, and a leader of the attack on The Satanic Verses. Mueen Uddin has just been convicted of war crimes in Bangladesh
In discussions of the ongoing revolutions in the Middle East, much is made of an opposition between older secular women’s organisations and today’s youth movements. Far too little attention is given to the importance of secularism as a value for the state and the need for secular space as an important pre-condition for the advancement of human rights.
When I say secularism, I do not mean the absence of religion but rather a state structure that defends both freedom of expression and freedom of religion or belief, where there is no state religion, where law is not derived from God and where religious actors cannot impose their will on public policy. A secular state does not simply limit religion, it also maintains the essential right of religious freedom as a duty not a favour. This means that it defends the freedom to worship and the right to maintain churches and temples, unhindered, and also defends minorities from attack.
Religious freedom also includes the right to challenge dominant religious interpretations, to change religions, and to leave religion altogether. These rights are crucial, not only for women, but for religious minorities, and a secular state is necessary to defend them. In fact it is the only kind of state in which religious fundamentalists have a voice that is capable of limiting the inevitable harm they will cause. As the case of Bangladesh shows, a state with a secular constitution on the one hand, and a strong feminist-led civil society on the other, will deliver far better outcomes for development in general and for gender equality than a state ruled by religion.
The divide, therefore is not inherently between the religious and secular, but between the anti-secular and those with secular values. In the UK, a major anti-secular force is the state’s promotion of political Islam, along with those who attack secular values from a post-modernist or Islamic feminist standpoint. Those with secular values include many religious conservatives who nonetheless want a separation between religion and the state, along with religious minorities, youth and women’s rights activists, free thinkers, and atheists who want a state in which they have the space for their voice, activism and beliefs. The first group are dominant in policy making of both governments and INGOs, while the second are among those voicing their frustrations at NGOisation of civil society and donor attitudes .
CARE International, one of the largest humanitarian organisations in the world, has produced a new report on women in the MENA region, called Arab Spring or Arab Autumn? Women's political participation in the uprisings and beyond. Its Executive Summary lays out five strategic goals:
Place women’s rights at the heart of the new political settlements across the region
Include women’s rights in ‘mutual accountability frameworks’ between donors and aid recipient governments to regulate political dialogue, aid, trade and wider economic relations
Broaden the support base for women’s rights movements, with a focus on engaging new youth activists and women in rural and urban slum areas
Support initiatives to bridge the religious-secular divide on women’s rights
Transform development programmes to embed gender equality, women’s participation and youth empowerment
CARE's recommendationa include the need to treat gender equality seriously, and to reflect some of the views of activists and NGOs about whether the accountability frameworks put in place by donor governemtns are working. The chief obstacle to all these goals is the rise of fundamentalist movements in the region. But the CARE report does not focus on the dangers these movements bring; instead it wants to “bridge the religious-secular divide.”
There is certainly a conversation to be had between religious and secular (irreligious) women, and between those in the youth movement and in the old line NGOs. Indeed they will all find themselves fighting on many fronts simultaneously. In some parts of the region, as in Tunisia, the struggle is to hold onto gains made in past regimes. But it is also a struggle to hold on to the existing space for women’s activism that exists in customary practices.
We must never make the mistake of thinking of Islamists simply as religious conservatives. While the Muslim Brotherhood, for instance, has certainly made accommodation at various times with conservatives, including dictatorial regimes, their critique of CEDAW in March 2013, shows that they are intent on rolling back existing local norms, not merely opposing international human rights norms that they deem to be‘Western’... read more:
