Page:The young Moslem looks at life (1937).djvu/122

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can, for after all Islam is the religious part of his Turkish heritage.

Here we have three typical points of view in the Moslem world today that differ widely from one another. But no true estimate of the relative truth of these positions can be determined without reference to the fundamental teachings of Islam on the subject of politics and religion. It is necessary, therefore, that we look at this side of the matter for a bit.

ISLAM AS A POLITICAL POWER

There is no quarrel between the politician and the clergy in Islam, for politics is religion and religion is politics. Islam is not so much a state religion as a religious state. And of course this all goes back to Mohammed's philosophy of religion. In his view Islam was a theocracy, that is, its real king and ruler was God, or Allah, himself, and the Prophet of Allah was to have supreme political power. According to this theory all life belonged to God, and all sensible people would of course submit to him. These sensible people who submitted to Allah and his Prophet and to their rule were called Moslems, those who submit. For them Allah opened a way of life in the Koran and the Traditions that provided for every aspect of their existence: the religious, the social, the political, and the economic. Politics and religion were not to be in water-tight compartments. They were ordained to be one and inseparable. The Prophet Mohammed, therefore, was not only prophet, he was also king. The rev


POLITICS