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You advocate the reform of Islam as opposed to its imposition - are these the only options we have? I find it strange that ruling a society by Islam is necessarily associated with imposition while the aggressive military and cultural campaigns led by liberal secular states, as they force countries to sign-up to their model of society, are termed 'liberation'. More to the point, every society needs regulation and its legislative process provides a framework which society believes is best placed to do this; an associated judicial process is key to maintaining 'the rule of law'. This principle is true for Britain, the United States, Islamic rule and any other society for that matter that seeks progress - each has its own source of law, judicial process and associated punishments, which are designed to regulate society. The establishment of Islamic rule does not entail the conversion of its citizens to Islam - they are citizens whose rights are protected by the state. Thus, why should the implementation of Islam over society be termed as an imposition on society, any different to the British, French or the US implementation of western secularism? Your reference to imposition is therefore misplaced - the real discussion is not the fact that society needs regulation according to an implemented law, but according to which standard it should be regulated.
You do not find Islamic rule at all appealing as, you argue, it combines the institutions of modernity with religious principles. Implicit in your disfavour is the assumption that in Islam the two are distinct, if not mutually exclusive. It assumes also that Islam is essentially a personal, ritual belief whose guidance, rules and principles are confined to one's personal matters. I agree that if this were the case, Islamic rule would need to borrow its economic and political institutions from elsewhere, possibly even from the West. This would lead to the incoherent enterprise of which you speak - the logic of different, indeed contradictory, elements that lead to eventual confrontation, not progress. Islam articulates a social, political and economic order built, not borrowed, on its own sources. It has both rituals and a political value system, the character of which was demonstrated by the life and message of its Prophet (pbuh). Islam maintains its applicability and ability to tackle new and complex problems, those unfamiliar to its past, through ijtihad - a mechanism that analogises between old and new situations of similar issue to reach a position on the new. It is why Islam has the ability to formulate views on the free market and international trade, genetics and cloning technology, international law and social justice, amongst others. Islam too articulates a societal order and thus challenges any who claim the West holds an exclusive monopoly on the institutions of modernity or of a progressed society.
A consequence of this is that Islam cannot be secularised, as separating Islam from politics is a fundamental alteration of this belief.
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