69 million page views

If Islam does not differentiate between church and state, why should I?

Reader comment on item: What You Can Do To Help Win the War on Terror

Submitted by Prashant, Dec 16, 2017 at 12:05

Dear Dr Pipes,

I come back to this argument over and over again and write about it in my comments on your blog. I think separation of Church and State is not only good for the state but it is good for the church also. When a religion does not meddle into the affairs of a state too much and distinguishes itself from the affairs of political entities, it also keeps itself isolated from the criticism that political entities often get and deserve.

Islam, on the other hand, embraces the amalgamation of church and state. One cannot read ten pages of the Quran without noticing that in the Quran believers are also represented as a world wide political entity in which the Allah-ordained responsibility of the members and leaders is to propagate and defend the ideology.

This begs the question that if Islam does not separate religion from politics why should we do this favor to Islam.

Pick the name of your favorite Islamic tyrant. It can be bin-laden or Idi Amin form the modern era or Mehmet II or Timur of the past centuries. Will it be fair to say that these marauders of the past centuries were not bad by themselves but the entire ideology that they were following was bad because they were following the advice incorporated in that ideology? For a religion to be considered good, its followers need to behave well and not too many of them should act too badly (specially when there is no distinction between the religion and the political ideology).

I personally think that Islam should adopt a philosophy of humanitarian democracy that include separation of church and estate as soon as possible. And until there is a very strong and perceptible movement within Islam to do so, the modern world should not distinguish between Islam the religion and Islam the political ideology. Until it is done, I have no obligation to call Islamic states rogue and Islam the religion good. So, dear Islamic mullahs around the world, wake up soon and issues fatwas proclaiming the independence of state from church and vice versa without further delay. No fatwa will go to waste.

Submitting....

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

Submit a comment on this item

Reader comments (15) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
If Islam does not differentiate between church and state, why should I? [362 words]PrashantDec 16, 2017 12:05241582
About islam [28 words]AnonDec 19, 2017 23:29241582
Testimonial - Contribution for organizations.. [241 words]SvetlanatchkahMar 22, 2009 18:37152604
Acknowledge Reality [74 words]WillDec 27, 2008 23:21146039
Time for Action [111 words]PDMDec 18, 2007 11:18116456
the real meaning of Islamism [114 words]Christopher GameSep 16, 2007 00:00108958
The Best Thing You Can Do [155 words]MarciSep 10, 2007 15:42108448
What you can to help win the war on terror [148 words]AnneJul 5, 2008 07:42108448
Specificity [123 words]Monte GardnerJun 15, 2007 20:2298429
eBay CONDONING terrorism by helping them make profits. EBay.- Does terrorists eBay? [260 words]YnnaFeb 19, 2007 03:4777889
Anti-jihad activities [177 words]joe kaffirFeb 1, 2007 00:5975360
Ending terrorism [119 words]dfwhite19438Jan 30, 2007 19:4575192
1All of which is pointless [215 words]Noah WilkDec 21, 2006 20:4570187
Hmm [15 words]D willMar 13, 2007 21:5470187
Terrorism & The Cult Syndrome [388 words]Carol GantosOct 4, 2006 10:4658897

Comment on this item

Mark my comment as a response to If Islam does not differentiate between church and state, why should I? by Prashant

Email me if someone replies to my comment

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

See recent outstanding comments.

Follow Daniel Pipes

Facebook   Twitter   RSS   Join Mailing List

All materials by Daniel Pipes on this site: © 1968-2024 Daniel Pipes. daniel.pipes@gmail.com and @DanielPipes

Support Daniel Pipes' work with a tax-deductible donation to the Middle East Forum.Daniel J. Pipes

(The MEF is a publicly supported, nonprofit organization under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code.

Contributions are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Tax-ID 23-774-9796, approved Apr. 27, 1998.

For more information, view our IRS letter of determination.)