Unfortunately, the Prophet's (may God's eternal mercy be upon him) idea of secularism was not as we understand it today. Nowhere in the Holy Koran does he concede the right to practice other faiths. He has conceded it only when he could not convert his opponents by argument or by armed might. Very often one of the last surahs of the Holy Koran, which says something like'You are welcome to your faith and I will live by mine' is quoted out of context to show that the Prophet tolerated people of other faiths. If you read the entire Holy Book, you will realize that those are words of frustration and condemnation rather than tolerance. Whatever the congressees of our country might say, there is no tolerance in the Great Faith. One has to put it in the right perspective. One must remember that the practices before the advent of the Prophet were extremely arbitrary and the people lived at the pleasure of the tribal chieftains. To that arbitrriness, the Prophet surely brought a semblance of order. Therefore, he surely was a great person and a brave one to have persuaded the independent clans to follow a single code. Therefore, to say that he declared secular state is complete misinterpretation of the meaning of secularism and the Holy Koran iteself.
