Religion is not at risk, and does not need to be rescued through the agency of the state; it is the liberties of the citizens and the idea of a free society that are at risk if the hegemonic view of religion replaces pluralism of faith

Some fundamental questions divide Muslim societies today: who should determine what is Islamic or not; does an individual have the right to practice or not practice religion; or should religion be rigidly imposed by the modern state through its coercive institutions?

Religion may provoke controversy in other societies, but there, the issue of the relationship between religion and the state is largely settled. Such societies consider religion to be a matter between an individual and his creator; the state does not regulate the religious lives of citizens. Through experience, these societies have learned that it is better to leave religion out of the affairs of the state, and have realised that otherwise the state would be oppressive and would leave little space for personal freedoms.

The relationship between state and religion has not been a simple issue in Muslim countries. Why?

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Dr Rasul Bakhsh Rais is author of Recovering the Frontier State: War, Ethnicity and State in Afghanistan (Oxford University Press, 2008) and a professor of Political Science at the Lahore University of Management Sciences. He can be reached at rasul@lums.edu.pk