Religion and State
Further information: Political aspects of Islam and Islam and secularismIslamic law does not distinguish between "matters of church" and "matters of state"; the ulama function as both jurists and theologians.
As the Muslim world came into contact with secular ideals of the Western world, Muslim societies responded in different ways. Azerbaijan was the first secular republic in the Muslim world, between 1918 and 1920, when it was incorporated into the Soviet Union. Turkey has been governed as a secular state since the reforms of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. By contrast, the 1979 Iranian Revolution replaced a mostly secular regime with an Islamic republic led by the Ayatollah, Ruhollah Khomeini.
Many Muslim countries have implemented some form of Sharia law or otherwise have Islam as the official state religion. Consequently, in those countries, areas of society ranging from politics to law to schooling, among others, have been affected. However, other states in the Muslim world remain officially secular.
Read more about this topic: Muslim World
Famous quotes containing the words religion and/or state:
“Where beauty is worshipped for beauty’s sake as a goddess, independent of and superior to morality and philosophy, the most horrible putrefaction is apt to set in. The lives of the aesthetes are the far from edifying commentary on the religion of beauty.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
“What thou art is mine;
Our state cannot be severed, we are one,
One flesh; to lose thee were to lose myself.”
—John Milton (1608–1674)