The Islamic Secular

Abstract

Abstract This chapter lays out the full theoretical expanse of the Islamic Secular and the way it manifests itself in Islamic legal history, despite the absence of this particular terminology. It clarifies not only that every secular act is not necessarily non-religious but also that every religious act is not necessarily shar‘ī, or derived from sharī‘ah and its sources. It is also in this chapter that I provide an Arabic translation for “Islamic Secular”: islām mā warā’ al-ḥukm al-shar‘ī or, alternatively, al-islām khārij al-ḥukm al-shar‘ī. I trace various manifestations of the Islamic Secular in Islamic legal history, hitherto overlooked in Western scholarship. I also argue that siyāsah, or discretionary power, is separate and distinct from sharī‘ah and not a part of the latter. I end the chapter with an engagement with the thought of Talal Asad, the leading scholar on the secular in Islam.