Political Islam, not Religious Islam

In order to deal with Islam intelligently, we must understand the doctrine. The common assumption is that Islam is a religion, but religion is only one part of its complete civilization which also contains a culture and its own laws. Religion is about answers to what happens after death, but we only need to understand how Islam impacts non-Muslims in this life today, mainly through its Sharia law. I call the Islam that affects the non-Muslim (Kafir) - political. We see from Mohammed’s life that he started preaching a religion. He was largely unsuccessful so he emigrated to Medina where he became a politician and a jihadist and was a great success. We can see this division in Sharia texts which concerns religion, business law, family law and criminal law. For example, jihad is both religious and political. The Sharia is “Allah’s” law and is superior to Kafir laws. Since the Sharia makes constant demands on the Muslim immigrants’ host country, it is important that our leaders understand what it is. The concept of Islamic politics allows our leaders to see the demands as just that—political demands that must be rejected when they contradict our laws.