The Incoherence of Contemporary Atheist Discourse: From Philosophical Critique to Superficial Mockery

What we witness today, which may be termed the atheism of the beard and niqab, and the attempts to undermine Islam by mocking appearances and rituals, represents in reality a profound insult and a trivialization of the project to spread atheism in the Islamic world. This pattern of discourse does not serve the atheist agenda so much as it provides the Muslim community with an innate immunity against the viruses of secularism and atheism.

This scene was previously repeated with the wave of Sunnah denial; the superficial discourse presented by some over the years generated a powerful counter-reaction. This was clearly manifested in the widespread popular and intellectual rejection of suspicious projects such as Takween, a fact acknowledged by the leaders of that movement themselves when they were shocked by the scale of intellectual resistance they had not anticipated.

Between the First Generation and Contemporary Reality

When we contemplate the history of secular and atheist critique, we recall names such as Louis Awad, Farah Antun, and Shibli Shumayyil; where the conflict revolved around the critique of theodicy (divine justice), the analysis of Trotskyist arguments, and the discussion of major philosophical issues. There is a vast gulf between that discourse and the intellectual decline we see today.

The descent of contemporary atheism into the embrace of vulgar mockery of religious appearances reflects a state of intellectual bankruptcy. This leads us to wonder: if the early pioneers of secularism were among us today, how would they feel seeing their cause dragged through the mire of superficiality at the hands of these individuals?