Secularism between Historical Genesis and Contemporary Challenges: A Critical Comparative Analysis of Western Experience and the Islamic World
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Secularism has long constituted a central axis of political and philosophical debate, particularly in societies experiencing profound tensions between religious authority, political legitimacy, and social pluralism.In the contemporary Arab and Islamic world, this debate has acquired renewed urgency amid ongoing political instability, ideological polarization, and the challenges of state-building in the post-Arab Spring context.This article undertakes a critical and comparative examination of secularism by tracing its historical roots in the Western experience and analyzing the structural, cultural, and epistemological challenges that complicate its reception and implementation in Islamic societies.Drawing on a historical-analytical and comparative methodology, the study situates secularism within the specific socio-political conditions that shaped its emergence in Europe, notably the conflict between ecclesiastical power and political authority, the wars of religion, and the gradual differentiation between religious and temporal spheres.Rather than interpreting secularism as an inherently anti-religious ideology, the article conceptualizes it as a historically contingent response to concrete problems of governance, authority, and social coexistence.This framework allows for a more nuanced understanding of secularism as a dynamic process rather than a fixed doctrinal model.The article further examines the conceptual and practical obstacles that hinder the establishment of a modern secular state in the Arab and Islamic world.These obstacles include the persistence of dogmatic political ideologies, the instrumentalization of religion in public life, the fragility of civic institutions, and unresolved questions surrounding religious pluralism and minority rights.By engaging with both Western theorists of secularization and contemporary Islamic intellectual critiques, the study highlights the limits of direct transplantation of Western secular models and underscores the necessity of contextual adaptation.Ultimately, the article argues that any meaningful engagement with secularism in Islamic societies must move beyond binary oppositions between religion and modernity.Instead, it calls for a critical rethinking of secularism as a flexible political and philosophical framework capable of accommodating religious diversity, safeguarding individual rights, and fostering social cohesion.In doing so, the study contributes to ongoing debates on governance, modernity, and intellectual renewal in the Arab and Islamic world.
DOI: 10.56334/sei/9.2.61
Authors: Ziani Youcef, Boubaya Karim
Institution: Mouloud Mammeri University of Tizi-Ouzou
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7128515527