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Secular Islam Summit was an international forum for secularists of Islamic societies, held in March 2007 in St. Petersburg, Florida, organized by Michael Ledeen and Ibn Warraq, among others. Notable speakers included Amir Taheri, Irshad Manji, and Warraq.

The summit was criticised by the Council on American-Islamic Relations for being organized by non-Muslims instead of a Muslim group.

St. Petersburg Declaration

On March 5 delegates to the summit released a public manifesto calling for reform within Islam. The text, known as the St. Petersburg Declaration, urged Islamic societies to reject Sharia law, Fatwa courts, and to accept freedom of religion and the equality of all citizens under the law.

Those who signed the declaration included:

• Ayaan Hirsi Ali
• Magdi Allam
• Mithal Al-Alusi
• Shaker Al-Nabulsi
• Nonie Darwish
• Afshin Ellian
• Tawfik Hamid
• Shahriar Kabir
• Hasan Mahmud
• Wafa Sultan
• Amir Taheri
• Ibn Warraq
• Manda Zand Ervin
• Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi

The text of the declaration read as follows:

We are secular Muslims, and secular persons of Muslim societies. We are believers, doubters, and unbelievers, brought together by a great struggle, not between the West and Islam, but between the free and the unfree.

We affirm the inviolable freedom of the individual conscience. We believe in the equality of all human persons.

We insist upon the separation of religion from state and the observance of universal human rights.

We find traditions of liberty, rationality, and tolerance in the rich histories of pre-Islamic and Islamic societies. These values do not belong to the West or the East; they are the common moral heritage of humankind.

We see no colonialism, racism, or so-called “Islamaphobia” in submitting Islamic practices to criticism or condemnation when they violate human reason or rights.

We call on the governments of the world to reject Sharia law, fatwa courts, clerical rule, and state-sanctioned religion in all their forms; oppose all penalties for blasphemy and apostasy, in accordance with Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human rights; eliminate practices, such as female circumcision, honor killing, forced veiling, and forced marriage, that further the oppression of women; protect sexual and gender minorities from persecution and violence; reform sectarian education that teaches intolerance and bigotry towards non-Muslims; and foster an open public sphere in which all matters may be discussed without coercion or intimidation.

We demand the release of Islam from its captivity to the totalitarian ambitions of power-hungry men and the rigid structures of orthodoxy.

We enjoin academics and thinkers everywhere to embark on a fearless examination of the origins and sources of Islam, and to promulgate the ideals of free scientific and spiritual inquiry through cross-cultural translation, publishing, and the mass media.

We say to Muslim believers: there is a noble future for Islam as a personal faith, not a political doctrine; to Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Baha’is, and all members of non-Muslim faith communities: we stand with you as free and equal citizens; and to nonbelievers: we defend your unqualified liberty to question and dissent.

Before any of us is a member of the Umma, the Body of Christ, or the Chosen People, we are all members of the community of conscience, the people who must choose for themselves.

External links

• Official website
• Newsweek article coverage of Secular Islam Summit
• Kuwait News Agency]

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• Islamic politics and Islamic world studies
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