al-Ilmaniyyun al-Arab wa Mawqifuhum min al-Islam

al-Ilmaniyyun al-Arab wa-Mawqifuhum min al-Islam (Arab Secularists and Their Position on Islam) is a critical treatise written by the Moroccan scholar Mustafa Bahou, examining and critiquing the ideological foundations and discourse of contemporary Arab secularist intellectuals regarding Islam al-Ilmaniyyun al-Arab wa ….

Context and Publication

The work constitutes the second volume in Bahou's specialized series Silsilat Buhuth fi al-Ilmaniyya (Researches on Secularism), following the introductory volume al-Ilmaniyya: al-Mafhum wa-l-Mazahir wa-l-Asbab (Secularism: Concept, Manifestations, and Causes), which was published in Morocco in August 2011 (Ramadan 1432 AH) al-Ilmaniyyun al-Arab wa …+1. al-Ilmaniyyun al-Arab wa-Mawqifuhum min al-Islam was published by al-Maktaba al-Islamiyya in Egypt al-Ilmaniyya wa al-Madhha…. Bahou later referenced the book's findings in subsequent writings, such as his third volume in the series, al-Ilmaniyya wa-l-Madhhab al-Maliki (Secularism and the Maliki School) al-Ilmaniyya wa al-Madhha…+1.

Core Arguments and Structure

Bahou states that the purpose of the book is to unveil what he describes as the reality of Arab secularist views toward Islam, looking beyond rhetorical ambiguity and media framing al-Ilmaniyyun al-Arab wa …. He argues that Arab secularism approaches Islam through an Orientalist and positivist evolutionary paradigm, treating religion as a collection of human-made myths and irrational concepts created by primitive societies to cope with the forces of nature al-Ilmaniyyun al-Arab wa …. According to Bahou, secular writers portray Islam as an obsolete product of nomadic and tribal desert life, deemed unfit for the era of nuclear energy, internet technology, and modern science al-Ilmaniyyun al-Arab wa ….

The book categorizes Arab secularists into two main tactical currents while arguing that both share fundamentally irreligious premises:

• Explicit Secularists: Figures who openly espouse an irreligious secularism and discard metaphysics, including Mohammed Arkoun, Adil Daher, Aziz al-Azmeh, Hashim Salih, Tayyib Tizini, and Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd, who reject any attempt to justify secularism using Islamic sources al-Ilmaniyyun al-Arab wa ….
• Gradualist or Pragmatic Secularists: Figures such as Hasan Hanafi, Khalil Abd al-Karim, and Muhammad Sa'id al-Ashmawi, who alternate between attacking religious concepts and attempting to reinterpret Islamic texts from within al-Ilmaniyyun al-Arab wa ….

Bahou contends that Islam and secularism are fundamentally irreconcilable al-Ilmaniyyun al-Arab wa …. He maintains that while secularism is grounded in empiricism and pure materialism—rejecting the unseen (al-ghayb), revelation, and transcendent rulings—Islam is a comprehensive divine system that governs creed, social life, ethics, economics, and legal rulings (hudud) al-Ilmaniyya wa al-Madhha…+1. He further argues that secular "freedom of belief" reduces religion to a marginalized personal sentiment confined to the mosque, preventing Muslims from fully implementing public Islamic duties, maintaining moral public spaces, or enforcing Sharia prohibitions against usury, intoxicants, and illicit acts al-Ilmaniyyun al-Arab wa …+1.