Is criticism secular?

What is the relationship between secularism and criticism? Is criticism necessarily secular? Does secularism entail self-criticism contrary to the religious view based on certainty? And does secularism characterize objectivity and rationality while religion is based on faith and adherence? Is secularism neutral regarding religion or does it pose a challenge to it? And how can freedom of expression be understood in the context of the modern state and through the ongoing conflict between secularism and religion? How has secularism contributed to shaping the identity of modern Western societies and their view of the non-Western world? These are some of the central questions discussed by four of the most prominent contemporary thinkers in this book, starting from the issue of the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, published by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in 2005, which at the time sparked a wave of reactions among Muslims who saw it as an insult to their Prophet, and in contrast, calls in the West to defend freedom of expression. This book explores aspects of the meaning of secularism and freedom of expression through their historical development and their current reality, as well as the concept of criticism and its transformations, and the relationship between the Islamic world and the West, and between the religious and secular visions of the world, aiming to deconstruct these terms and question their assumptions and intellectual frameworks.