Individualism and Rationalism in Islam  Pooyan Aslani [email protected]   Islam has failed to establish a secular state because of its absolute rejection of the ideals and values that emerged from the European Enlightenment.  Individualism and rationalism are essential to the existence of a strong secular state and are neither incorporated, nor understood by Islamic societies. The inevitable result of Enlightenment was Secularism.  The word secular means "of this world" in Latin and is the opposite of �religious�.  Secularism is usually used to describe any philosophy which forms its ethics without reference to religious dogmas and which promotes the development of human individualism and expression. Western secular societies rely on fundamental ideals that stemmed from the ancient Greek philosophers, but have been refined since the European Enlightenment of the 17th century.  As the Greeks struggled to explain seemingly supernatural occurrence with their observations of the physical world, so did they strive to find a purpose and position for all members of society.  These objectives were stifled by the actions of the Christian church, which relied on divine explanations and insisted on a hierarchical and theological government.    Enlightenment began from the belief in a rational orderly and comprehensible universe and proceeded to demand a rational and orderly organization of knowledge.  Enlightenment grew up between two competing strains.  On one hand there was an intense spirituality and faith in religion and church, but on the other hand there was a growing streak of anti-clericalism which challenged the ideals of the church, and the practice of priests.  Enlightenment commenced an assault on the authority of the Christian Church when it proposed that political decisions must be grounded in reason, not in theology.  In the view of the scholars of this time, it was not enough to put organized religion in its place; it was necessary to ''wipe out that rubbish�� (Voltaire).  Science, not religion, became the source for solutions to all human problems.  This new zeitgeist allowed progressive and liberal ideas to influence the development of theories that suggested that science could perfect, or at least improve, individual human nature, and human society as a whole. The church had taught that people are classified by a divine system according to ability or to economic or social standing.  As the philosophers of the enlightenment explored the application of scientific and rational theories, they saw the necessity of the separation of church and state, and the inherent value of every individual.  Western society began to represent an approach to political and social issues which was rooted in pragmatic, rational, future and result oriented approaches to human issues.  These ideas can only come to fruition in a secular state.  The freedom, tolerance, and emancipation of women, homosexuals and other marginalized groups is an essential quality of a state which recognizes the fundamental equality of all individuals  Enlightenment has not happened in Islam; as a result, they do not have the two core values essential for the development of a solid secular society. The first, individualism, stressed the importance of the individual and his rights as a citizen.  The function of secular society, therefore, was to ensure maxim individual freedom and material well-being.  In Islamic societies, there is no room for the individual to define herself; rather, people are defined by a group such as family, or the umma.  The objective of a theocratic society is to nurture the moral well being, and promote that which is good, according to the church-state, and to prevent that which is evil, as defined, again, by the church-state.  Clearly, Enlightenment derived democratic theory that emphasizes individualism, and encourages people to imagine their own future is a poor fit for an Islamic Country. The second, rationalism, allowed all people to use the power of reason to arrive at truth and make progress toward improving human life.  The definition of rationalism holds that the source of knowledge is reason and logic.  This contrasted with the idea that faith, revelation, and religion were the only valid sources of knowledge and verification. Islam relies on faith and spirituality.  They borrow scientific advances from western societies.  Despite the fact, Islamic societies were the leading scientific society prior to enlightenment; Islamic countries now fail to understand that the source of knowledge is reason not faith.  It is possible the rejection stems from Islam�s failure to understand the application of modern thought.  The inevitable result of the rejection of Enlightenment by Islamic countries was the inability to form a secular state.  The tension, from which the Enlightenment sprung, strong faith and spirituality contending with anti-clericism, exists in Islamic society.  Modern theocratic states are embracing the application of science in medicine and technology while rejecting the implications for individual human value.    Pooyan Aslani, a humanist of Iranian origin, is a Ph.D. candidate at Polytechnic University, New York.   �  Mukto-Mona