ABSTRACT
Secularism and secularization are among the major themes embedded in heated debates not only in contemporary Islamic civilization1 but also in Western social sciences. This book relates these debates to its major theme, i.e. Islam and cultural modernity, which is, in substance, a secular project. Earlier, it was assumed that the modernization of society and politics leads to secularization. Today, the return of the sacred is a social fact2 and it implies the challenge of de-secularization. I stand by Max Weber’s “Entzauberung der Welt/disenchantment of the world” against postmodernism, notwithstanding the acknowledgment of a crisis of cultural modernity and also of secularity. This statement is consistent in itself, but it is inconsistent to argue that there can be a secular state that is not based on the secularization of society, as is contended by some Muslims who want to eat their cake and have it.
