Page "History of Islam" Paragraph 4

Modern interpretations of Islamic texts advocate the unification of religion and state ruled by a Caliph.

Such a polity has not existed since the early Islamic city-states and universal imperial period beginnings.

The common slogan al-islam dinun was dawlatun ` ( translation: Islam is a religion and a state ) is neither a Koranic verse nor a quote from the hadith, but a 19th century political Salafi slogan popularized in opposition to Western Egyptian influence.

Such a recent origin was a handicap for a belief system bound by the scripture revealed, and the ways of those who lived, twelve centuries earlier.