The Intellectual Motivations in the Holy Qur’an and Their Role in Addressing the Manifestations of Secularism

This thesis addresses the problematic relationship between secular thought, which is based on the principle of separating religion from the state, and the Islamic vision, which views religion as a comprehensive system that regulates human life in its individual, social, political, and economic dimensions. The study begins by diagnosing the tension between these two perspectives, particularly when attempting to apply the secular model to Islamic societies, and the questions this raises regarding religious identity, value-based reference, the role of Sharia in legislation, the nature of the relationship between ruler and ruled, and the impact of all these issues on societal ethics. The thesis examines secularism in terms of its linguistic and terminological roots, its historical emergence in the Western context, its stages of development, and its moderate and extreme forms, while also clarifying its relationship with the concepts of secularization, modernity, globalization, and Freemasonry. It further analyzes the manifestations of secularism in various spheres of life and studies its negative effects in the Western world on the individual, the family, and society. The research then moves to explore its repercussions in the Islamic world and the confusion it has caused within value systems and social identity, with a dedicated examination of its impact on women in both Western and Islamic societies. In contrast to this framework, the study focuses on elucidating the Qur’anic approach to addressing the manifestations of secularism by uncovering the intellectual motivations found in the Holy Qur’an and explaining their role in reshaping the awareness of the Muslim individual and safeguarding it from materialistic and rationalistic tendencies detached from religion. The thesis demonstrates that the Holy Qur’an offers an integrated conception of life based on a balance between the spiritual and material dimensions, rejects the separation of religion from the state, and establishes intellectual, educational, and legislative foundations capable of addressing the intellectual deviations produced by secularism in the fields of material thought, economics, ethics, social relations, law, art, media, and science. The study adopts a descriptive–analytical methodology in presenting and analyzing the phenomenon of secularism, supported by an inductive approach in collecting relevant Qur’anic verses and deriving their intellectual implications, in addition to a historical method in tracing the origins of secularism and its stages of development. The thesis concludes that Qur’anic intellectual motivations constitute an integrated civilizational project capable of confronting contemporary intellectual challenges, correcting the course of human thought, and building a balanced awareness that preserves Islamic identity while achieving harmony between the demands of the modern age and the constants of religion