Is “Islamic State” Islamic?
Islam offers lasting political principles, but no fixed political ideology, and every attempt at an Islamic state has ended up secularizing itself. Politics is the knowledge of power and its limits, and it is secular in its essence, since a ruler in a nation-state must serve the public interest of everyone, not only believers. Fusing religion and politics turns faith into a tool of power. Secularism separates religious institutions from the state, not religion from politics. The conversation then turns to dār al-islām and dār al-ḥarb, armed resistance and terrorism.