5. To what extent are Islam and secularism reconcilable?

Islam and secularism are fully compatible. As per the Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, secularism is a policy of non-interference in religious matters. In a secular government, every religious community has the right to follow its own faith. This was demonstrated even by the Prophet Muhammad when he drafted the Madinah Charter, according to which different religious groups were allowed to have their own personal law.

The true meaning of secular personal law has been alluded to in the following verse of the Quran, according to which, people of other faiths could follow their own Holy Books to judge their matters:

We have revealed the Torah, in which there is guidance and light. By it the prophets who were obedient to Us judged the Jews, and so did the rabbis and the priests, according to God’s Book which had been entrusted to their care; and to which they were witnesses. (Quran 5:44)

But why do they come to you for judgement when they have the Torah, which enshrines God’s own judgement? (Quran 5:43)

The Quran and the life of the Prophet Muhammad make it clear that secularism and the teachings of Islam are alike. Groups that claim otherwise are completely mistaken in promoting un-Islamic ideas of religious superiority.