Does Secularism Drive Progress?<\/p>\n
By: Samodra Wibawa, Fisipol UGM; Akademia Noto Negoro<\/p>\n
Islam is backward because its followers have abandoned their\nreligion, whereas the West is advanced because they have abandoned\ntheirs. Muhammad Abduh (died 1905) once said: \u201cI went to the West and\nsaw Islam, but no Muslims; I came back to the East and saw Muslims, but\nnot Islam.\u201d This paradoxical statement deserves reconsideration when we\nobserve the current map of global progress.<\/p>\n
Many Muslim nations are rich in resources but still struggle with\npoverty, corruption, inequality, weak education, and poor governance.\nConversely, many secular Western nations appear as centres of science,\ntechnology, economy, and innovation.<\/p>\n
So, is religion an obstacle to progress? Or is there an error in how\nwe understand religion?<\/p>\n
This question is compelling if development is understood as more than\njust economic growth. Development is the process of creating a societal\nlife that improves day by subsequently. But what is meant by \u201cgood\u201d?<\/p>\n
Economics answers this with income and productivity. Development\nscience points to education, health, employment, security, and quality\nof life. However, religion poses a more fundamental question: for what\npurpose is all this progress?<\/p>\n
Humans require worldly welfare, but they also need meaning, inner\npeace, morality, and salvation in the hereafter.<\/p>\n
The Paradox of the West and the Islamic World<\/strong><\/p>\n Max Weber once linked the Protestant ethic to the emergence of the\nmodern capitalist spirit. However, the relationship between religion and\neconomic progress is not as simple as the formula \u201ca specific religion\ngives birth to capitalism.\u201d Studies on Weber show a more complex\nrelationship between religious beliefs, rationalisation, work ethic,\nsocial structures, and economic development (Turner, 2010; Vermeer,\n2022).<\/p>\n Therefore, the phenomenon of the West advancing as it becomes more\nsecular does not automatically prove that secularism causes\nprogress.<\/p>\n It is possible that a paradox exists: the West has abandoned some\nreligious practices and authority, but has maintained certain values\nthat once grew within its religious traditions\u2014such as discipline, hard\nwork, responsibility, honesty, respect for knowledge, and an ethos of\nservice.<\/p>\n Conversely, Muslims may maintain a strong religious identity but fail\nto translate Islamic values into institutions and social life.<\/p>\n This is where the thesis \u201cIslam is backward because its followers\nhave abandoned their religion, while the West is advanced because they\nhave abandoned theirs\u201d becomes interesting. Not as a proven scientific\nconclusion, but as a critical question: Are Muslims truly practicing\nIslam in social, economic, political, and institutional life?<\/p>\n When Islam Stops at Ritual<\/strong><\/p>\n Islam certainly teaches prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and pilgrimage.\nBut Islam does not stop there.<\/p>\n Islam also speaks of justice, trustworthiness, honest trade, the\nobligation to seek knowledge, the responsibility of leaders, the\nprotection of the vulnerable, and the prohibition of unlawful\nacquisition of wealth.<\/p>\n If that is the case, why is religiosity sometimes easier to measure\nthrough symbols and rituals than through the quality of social life?<\/p>\n Shouldn\u2019t a society that truly embodies trustworthiness hate\ncorruption? A society that understands justice should demand impartial\nlaws. A society that honours knowledge should build schools,\nuniversities, laboratories, and strong research traditions.<\/p>\n In other words, worship should have social consequences.<\/p>\n Prayer does not only shape a vertical relationship with God, but also\nproduces humans capable of avoiding wrongdoing. Fasting is not merely\nabstaining from hunger and thirst, but training self-control. Zakat is\nnot just a financial obligation, but an instrument of social\nsolidarity.<\/p>\n If rituals flourish but corruption remains high, education lags, laws\nare for sale, and poverty persists across generations, the problem is\nnot with Islam, but with the failure to translate Islamic values into\nbehaviour and institutions.<\/p>\n Do Not Forget Colonialism<\/strong><\/p>\n However, this issue cannot be separated from history.<\/p>\n Much of the Muslim world has experienced colonialism. Colonisation\ninvolved not only the seizure of territory and resources but also the\nshaping of legal systems, bureaucracies, education, economies, and the\nrelationship between religion and the state.<\/p>\n Studies on India and Nigeria show how colonial governments helped\nrestructure Islamic law and integrated it into colonial administrative\nframeworks (Stephens, 2018; Akande, 2020). The same applies to\nIndonesia. Therefore, it is reasonable to investigate whether the\ncolonial experience contributed to the narrowing of religious space in\nsocio-political life.<\/p>\n But history must be read carefully. It is inaccurate to attribute all\nthe backwardness of the Muslim world solely to colonialism. Internal\nfactors also play a role: quality of leadership, political conflict,\neducation, economic structures, corruption, weak institutions, and\npost-independence government policies.<\/p>\n Thus, colonialism is part of the explanation, but not the entire\nexplanation.<\/p>\n Progress for What Purpose?<\/strong><\/p>\n There is a more fundamental issue: what does progress mean?<\/p>\n If a developed nation only means having skyscrapers, motorways,\nadvanced technology, high income, and high consumption, that measure is\nincomplete.<\/p>\n Human development encompasses the expansion of human capabilities to\nlive lives they value (UNDP, 2025). From an Islamic perspective, that\nmeasure is further expanded: welfare is not only worldly but also\nhereafter-oriented.<\/p>\n The Qur\u2019an provides a compelling vision of an ideal land through the\nexpression:<\/p>\n \u201cBaldatun thayyibatun wa rabbun ghaf\u016br\u201d (A good land and a forgiving\nLord) (QS. Saba\u2019: 15).<\/p>\n The interesting part is the word baldah<\/em>: a land\/nation. This\nimplies that Islam speaks not only of individual piety but also of the\nquality of a society.<\/p>\n A good land\u2026<\/p>",
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