Dr. Taha Jaber Al-`Alwani, president of the Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences and former president of the Fiqh Council of North America, states: “Secularism has no less than 16 definitions. Each definition will give you a different opinion about what secularism is. One of these definitions is how to protect religion from the interference of the State, not the opposite. With this in mind, you can understand that you can’t say that secularism is absolute evil or bad. Secularism sometimes is a good protection for religion. Even though when Muslims live in any country as a minority and they accept to be citizens in that country having their own rights and the freedom to practice their religion and its rituals as individuals, families, and communities. That means that this situation is making this place like Dar al-Islam (the Abode Islam). Hence, Muslims in these countries should respect the law and the people who hosted them and deal with them in the best of ways.
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked his Companions in Makkah to immigrate to Abyssinia (Habashah) just because there have been a king who was implementing justice. The Prophet told them to go to this place only because there have been a just king, and that nobody under his leadership will be exposed to any torture, aggression or bad treatment.
Muslims in the West should respect those countries and try to be fair with the people who hosted them, gave them full freedom to practice their faith and religion in a proper way. Being nice with those people is a good way to draw their attention to Islam and to invite them indirectly to join the ranks of the Muslims, Insha’Allah. The Muslim should always look with a global vision, not with limited perspective.”