Tag: secularsummit

I said earlier I was going to cover the Secular Islam Summit which will take place in Tampa in March. To this end I received a very interesting comment from Ginan Rauf:

Isn't it curious how many of these speakers have political views that are to the right of most Muslims? At least two of them- Manji and Ibn Warraq have attacked Edward Said and made him almost into an Other of the ''secular'' enlightenment. This, of course, is quite ironic because long before many of them arrived on the scene he was an open secular humanist who lamented the failure of secularism in the Arab world, it's failure to create effective mass movements.

Hmm--- one wonders why an outspoken atheist like Tariq Ali is not included. Could it have something to do with holding the wrong political views? How likely are these guys to create alliances with secular forces- usually on the left- in Muslim majority countries if they are just out to bash, make a quick buck and relinquish all feelings of solidarity with the oppressed?  Where is the humanism in this secularism?

This is a secularism of the right. I remember reading an article by Ibn Warraq in which he waxes eloquent about British colonialism in India. One might arguably make the case that dismantling post-colonialism is part of it's agenda. I am not necessarily saying this is true of everyone there but it's certainly something to think about.

Related: Secular Islam Summit 1 

Professor Fadel on Edward Said