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Promoting a reformation movement within Islam has been a preoccupation of European and American policymakers for almost two decades. As the argument goes, sections of the Muslim community have a predilection to violence that is justified by an extreme and intolerant reading of Islamic texts. The prerequisite to creating an inert ummah is for a European-style reformation movement to emerge that critically questions Islamic scripture and reclaims the faith from the scourge of extremism. The narrative has broad acceptance with the liberal left and the conservative right, differing only on emphasis and tone. Bush’s ill-conceived notions of a ‘clash within civilisation’ and his winning the ‘war of ideas’ rhetoric was indistinguishable from Obama’s softer but equally malign policy of countering violent extremism by cultivating a message rooted in Islam and using Muslim scholars and intellectuals to front the campaign. The intended aim remains the same. To provoke an Islamic reformation.

A recent US National Security Council policy document leaked to the Intercept reveals some in the Trump administration wants to go a step further. Included in the proposal is “a call for a Martin Luther-like figure to bring Islam into modernity”. The reformation began with Martin Luther’s challenge to the Catholic church and ended with the personalisation of European faith. This process, known as the reformation, ended with a secularisation of European society.

The European experience of religious antagonisms has led many to believe that there is a need to sponsor a so-called ‘Islamic secularism’. Many Muslims, some unwittingly, have echoed this call. If secularisation helped Europe free itself from sectarian violence and religious fanaticism during the 17th and 18th centuries, then surely the adoption of this principle can create something similar, a secular liberal Muslim state and civil society that acts as an antidote to extremism.

You can see why this message has managed to gain some currency, especially amongst young Muslims, now a majority in Muslim societies. The rise of ISIS in recent times has undermined attempts to return to an Islamic polity, with many Islamic groups blamed for stoking violence and sectarian hatred.

This week I ask Uthman Badar, an Islamic academic, speaker and writer from Sidney Australia to discuss the idea of secularism. Uthman is a PhD candidate, researching secularism and its foundational assumptions and I thought it would be a good idea to take a deep-dive into understanding its roots and development in Europe. In future episodes, we shall take a look at the impact of the policy to secularise Islam, upon the Muslim world and Muslim communities in the west.