Dear Pervaiz Sahib,

The subject matter is an interesting question and judging from various respondents; it appears to be a bit controversial as well. As we all know, the word 'secular' pertains to worldly things, which are non-spiritual or no religious in nature. And, of course we are all aware of what the word 'Muslim' means: one who believes in Islam. Unlike other correspondents, I am not going to define, criticize or praise Islam, as that will be beyond the scope of the topic or question under discussion. Once we have the understanding of the question, the answer should be simple and straightforward. My answer to the question therefore, would be as follows:

The Muslims who live in secular environment are Secular Muslims. In most societies, including many of the Islamic countries, the affairs of the state are more or less run on secular grounds, while the individuals are (more or less) free to run their personal lives according to their Islamic beliefs. From this observation, it follows that most of the Muslims of the world are Secular Muslims.

All the letters on this topic that I have had the opportunity to read, appear to be going into the depth of the Islamic history, or describing the problems associated with Islam or trying to redefine it one way or the other. It seems no one has bothered to answer the question: Who are secular Muslims? The situation reminds me of a little joke, which I would like to share with you. I believe it is relevant to the situation:

A young schoolboy comes home from school and tells the parents that he had an exam at school and that he answered all the questions. With pride, his father said, "oh, that is wonderful son, that means you knew all the answers". The boy turned around and said, " no, dad...I changed all the questions".

Lots of arguments that I have read in the published letters are not relevant to the 'topic under discussion', but I am sure from all these answers we can choose interesting questions for our future discussions.

Sincerely,

Javed Chaudry

Feb 4, 03