What does Islam say about separating religion and state?

Islam asks one thing above all of the state: absolute justice for everyone, whatever their religion. Religion must not be misused as a tool of politics, and the state has no business in the relationship between a person and God.

People often hear that Islam makes religion and state one. That assumption is not right. Islam is concerned above all with faith and moral values. For governing it gives no ready-made model of the state, but one clear command. Whoever rules over people must rule with absolute justice. And that justice knows no religion, no colour and no origin.

Many take secularism to mean hostility to religion. Understood that way, Islam rejects it. Rightly understood, however, it means that no one in the state is disadvantaged because of their faith, and that religious feeling may not violate the rights of others. In this sense, justice for all is exactly what the Holy Qur’an teaches. The verse above even demands just treatment of enemies.

There is a mixing of religion and politics that Islam firmly rejects. It happens where politicians use religion as a tool to win votes or secure power. This is done in the name of many religions, Islam included, and it harms religion as much as politics.

It is different with the lasting moral values that all religions share. Honesty, care for the weak and justice should be promoted by every politician, whatever his faith. Where living together as citizens is concerned, there is no conflict between religious command and just law.

But the laws that concern the relationship between a person and God, such as prayer or fasting, are none of the state’s business. The state should not interfere there. Religion does not interfere in politics, and politics does not interfere in religion. That way everyone can live in peace and let others live.