The Islamic Secular (original) (raw)

Professor Sherman Jackson’s essay “The Islamic Secular” challenges the popularconception within the Muslim community that norms are either “Islamic”or “un-Islamic.” Insofar as popular Muslim consciousness accords legitimacyonly to the “Islamic” and grants only grudging, if any, legitimacy to the “non-Islamic,” this intervention is welcome and profoundly needed. But his ambitionhere goes beyond correcting misconceptions within the community itself:It is also an intervention in debates about the secular, secularization, and religionin western academic discourses. In the brief space allotted to me to respondto this very rich and important essay, I will limit myself to the argumentshe directs toward the terms mentioned above and his argument that the “Islamic”secular presents a different phenomenon ...