Evolving ideologies, strategies & framing

This article underpins a public conversation hosted in conjunction with the Muslims Institute, British Muslims for Secular Democracy and Semiticart, entitled Towards a secular Islam State.  The ‘conversation’ shall seek to re-examine the notion of what the term ‘secular’ means to Arabs and the connotations it carries, but more importantly how Muslim Scholars and the legal practitioners of Fiqh (Islamic Law), interpret secularism in its current form, and the future of the notion, in light of events post Arab-Spring.  Does the word itself need to be re-contextualised, in order for it to be an ‘acceptable-equivalent’ for Muslims?  Thus, I have called such a play on words a ‘semantic-synonym’.  Furthermore, what are the psychological and sociological forces at work, with such framing dynamics?  Finally, do Arab Muslims need to overcome the ‘Western-colonial-cultural-baggage’, which is often associated with the word ‘secularism’ to mean anti-religion, in order for them…