Social Lifestyle in Secular Society: A Study in the Light of Qur’anic Social Norms

Hussein Ibrahim Shamsuddin

Abstract

The study at hand deals with an important topic of contemporary thought, namely secularism, as a social system and a lifestyle that establishes – based on its own intellectual structure – a set of principles and guidelines that govern individual and collective behavior. We have tried to deconstruct the secular discourse and its foundations in terms of social lifestyle. It has become evident that secularism is reflected in three fundamental levels: behavioral standards, legislation, and values.Then, we proceeded to discover the philosophical and intellectual foundations underlying these three aspects. Next, we dedicated a section of the study to evaluating and criticizing these foundations in accordance with the Qur’anic-norms perspective; where we tried to extract the general principles conveyed by the Qur’an that govern the lifestyle of individuals and communities, and we assessed secular principles based on this Qur’anic perspective. Consequently, the study concludes that the Holy Qur’an has shown that the fundamental point in these three aspects is contrary to secular thought; for It has established the existence of the dimension that is beyond materiality in human existence and social existence, due to the transcendence of creation to the material dimension and the existence of other worlds beyond this world.

Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)