
Author: Khairudin Aljunied
Journal: Journal of History of Ideas
Volume: 80
Issue: 4
Pages: 643-663
Publisher:
Published: 2019
DOI: 10.1353/jhi.2019.0035
Muslim thinkers have long debated the impact of secularism in their societies. This article examines “the rejectionist approach” to the question of secularism as articulated by a renowned Muslim intellectual, Naquib Al-Attas. I develop the argument that Al-Attas offered a unique view of secularism as an ungodly ideology and historical process that grew from the fusion of conflicting world views. Al-Attas’s ideas on secularism were shaped by his polarized view of civilizations. Such a conceptualization sets the stage for his critique of the intellectual deformations that secularism has brought upon Muslim societies in the modern world.