Representation of the ideas of secularism in the Islamic world in the thought of Mohammed Arkoun

Since the 1970s, Mohammed Arkoun (1928-2010) has worked on projects such as "Islamic Criticism, " "Applied Islamology, " and "Prospective Critical Wisdom" with the goal of monitoring and conducting Islamic studies as well as the crisis of the Islamic-Arab world. Secularism is one of Erkon's special values in his thought. This article takes a descriptive-analytical approach to Arkoun's ideas on secularism in the Islamic world.Questions: What, in Arkoun's opinion, is the definition and fundamentals of secularism? Is Arkoun's secularism a reasonable alternative to religious debate? Findings According to his reading, secularism is a schema that developed in Western countries in opposition to theocracy. He regards the duality of Islam and secularism as one of the most difficult issues in recent Islamic thought, and he regards the implementation of secularism in Islamic societies as making significant progress. One of Arkoun's innovations is the division of secularism in Islamic history into four periods. Secularism, according to him, had no place in the Prophetic era and only began with the Umayyad caliphate and developed during the monarchy. With three experiences in France, Lebanon, and Turkey, Arkoun also introduced the dual of open and coercive secularism. Coercive secularism has marginalized religious discourse in opposition to social discourses, and it is a failed experiment. However, free secularism is a progressive path that includes the establishment of modernism components such as gender equality, democracy, and so on. Arkoun viewed secularism as a method of governing the socio-political arena rather than as an alternative ideology to religion.