The Arabic word for secular was invented only in the late nineteenth century.

Evidence

The commonest word used today for the adjectives “secular” and “lay” as well as for “secularist” and “layman” is ‘alma¯niyy. This latter word, now the most commonly used, was invented in the latter part of the nineteenth century. (There is no entry for it or for any of its cognates in Lane’s Arabic-English Lexicon compiled in Egypt in the first half of the nineteenth century.) — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 981

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes the etymology and late invention of the Arabic term for secular, a useful definitional anchor.