The President of France, Emmanuelle Macron, recently claimed that Islam was in crisis, while the fact is, it is secularism itself, which he dearly holds, defends and propagates, that is actually in crisis.
French secularism is a mainstream secularism which seeks to banish religion from public space in the name of reason and emancipation, while religious organisations are strictly monitored by the state.
In other Western countries, where organised religion is considered a potential public good or national resource, a rather moderate secularism is adopted.
Regardless, secularisation as a whole, has led to a sharp decline of traditional religion, as indicated by lesser attendance of church services and lesser adherence to traditional Christian beliefs and practices.
But with the arrival and eventual settlement of non-Christian migrants in European countries, particularly Muslims, the question of religious identity in the public sphere has become a hot debate again. How does Western secularism respond to the presence of Muslims and Islam?
In terms of perception, there is an apparent hostility towards Islam and Muslims based on stereotypes and scare stories in the media. What is now termed as "Islamophobia" is basically a form of cultural racism.
Since Islam has been conceived as antithetical to secular principles and values, it is then considered a hindrance to assimilation and integration of Muslims in the Western society.
So, according to radical secularism, instead of accommodating the Muslims and their way of life, they have to be secularised. Here lies the real problem, which is not political but philosophical. Muslims do not want to be secularised, and due to that, they are accused of refusing assimilation.
As far as the Muslims are concerned, there is no dichotomy between our life in this world and what they believe as the eternal life in the Hereafter.
A rightly guided Muslim believes that the ultimate purpose of life is in the Hereafter and yet it is here, in this world, that he has to work and do good deeds.
So in that sense, this worldly life is sacred and valuable to Muslims. Since there is no dichotomy in their minds, there is no need to affirm one and deny the other as if they are mutually contradicting.
Both, this world and the other, according to the worldview of Islam, are affirmed with the Hereafter having the final significance.
Thus, the problem now is not with Islam but with the secular mentality, and in particular with the extreme secularist who wants to impose his vision of truth and reality on others using raw power and authority.
Since there is no such dichotomy in Islam, there is also no church-state like arrangement in Islamic history.
Such a dichotomy and its attendant political arrangement is essentially western and the problems associated with it are irrelevant to Islam and Muslims.
Historically, secularisation is the final outcome of the long war between the church and state, and so, any attempt to secularise Muslims is equivalent to imposing their problems on others, like an incompetent doctor giving wrong prescription.
It is not Islam then that is in crisis and therefore needs external intervention but secularism itself. Secularism is in crisis because it is not established upon certainty, but upon doubt regarding truth and possibility of knowledge, and this is the real crisis.
Without religion, there is no ultimate purpose of life, but only temporal purposes defined by this temporal life. Such purposes change indefinitely, and so, there is no stability in it. In reality, a life defined by an ever-changing purpose is as good as a purposeless life.
Hence, what secular modernity has actually brought to mankind is a grave crisis of identity and uncertainty of final destiny. This should explain why the secularisation thesis, which was accepted and popularised by almost all sociologists in the 60's, has been considered untenable today.
The resurgence of non-traditional religions, notably Islam, in the midst of a secular Europe indicates the fact that religion remains relevant.
Peter Berger, the renowned sociologist, acknowledges this fact and admits that instead of a secular age we are now actually living in, is a plural age.
Judged from his behaviour and statements, Macron seems to have been oblivious to this development. He needs to look in the mirror and asks himself: who is actually in crisis? In a plural society, the way forward is by managing multiculturalism through dialogues.
*The writer is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Shariah, Law and Politics, Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia (IKIM)