Description

This study responds to a range of contemporary controversial debates about the questions of secularism, Islam and democracy. It deals with secularism from a theoretical perspective and discusses its complex intellectual conceptualizations, linguistic signifiers through tracing the emergence of both its most pivotal narratives and theorists of the modern times. More particularly, the study focuses on the extent to which secularism has become a diversified socio-historical phenomenon.  Regardless of how the concept is defined, the core idea of this study is that the interrelationship between secularism and Islam is based on instances of convergence and divergence. Therefore, this examination contributes to our understanding of the process of secularization within Islam, and then discusses the substantive and procedural democracy with a focus on the relationship between secularism and democracy.