Islamism and the Political Order

The first step in the Islamist invention of Islamic tradition is to establish a new understanding of Islam as din-wa-dawla: religion united with a state order. When Islamists speak of al-hall al-Islami (Islamic solution), they mean not democracy but rather a remaking of the existing political order in pursuit of the Islamic shari’a state. It is this idea, not violence, that is the hallmark and conditio sine qua non of Islamism. It is no exaggeration to contend that Islamism puts the unity of religion and state almost on an equal footing with shahadah (allegiance to Islam) as a test of how truly Islamic one is.