An Assessment of Secularists' Means and Endeavors at Influencing Muslim's Thoughts and Beliefs

Abstract

Secularism has become one of the most critical threats to the Muslim Ummah. The nature, the means, and the concealed goals of secularism are still fraught with ambiguities. The result is that many Muslims are unaware of its danger and plots. This research investigates particularly the most influential means and practical efforts of secularists at influencing especially Muslims' thoughts and beliefs with regard to their religion. Through an inductive approach, using secondary sources, the dominant mode of analysis in the research is content analysis. The research first looks into the historical background of secularism and investigates the reasons behind its advent to the Muslim land. Then, it uncovers some of the most influencing means secularists often use to secularize Muslim's thoughts and to distort their understanding of their religion. It also explores some of the secularists' practical endeavors in this respect. The researcher systematically uncovers secularists misconceptions in this area with more clarification and refutes them using evidence from the Qur'an and the Sunnah according to the understanding of the predecessors of the Ummah, along with other logical evidence. Based on the conclusion, the research makes some suggestions on how secularism should be confronted.