Twenty second in a series
We began this series with the premise, “Ideas have consequences.” Today we examine governance’s basis; ideology and faith—or religion for the latter, if you prefer.
These form the basis for two governance models reviewed next time. All other forms derive from one of these two, and we’ll see Islam represents a variation of one of them. America’s republic represents the other model. It comes down to an idea, a simply question concerning ideology. Does one’s ideology inform their religion, or does religion inform one’s ideology?
I like to define important terms before using them. So, let’s define faith, idea, and religion. We’ll begin with faith. All definitions come from Noah Webster’s first dictionary published in 1820.[1]
Faith: Literally, “to trust; to believe.” [1] “the assent of the mind to the truth of what is declared by another, resting on his authority and veracity, without other evidence.”
Idea: “Literally, that which is seen; hence, form, image, model of any thing in the mind.”
Religion: “[I]n its most comprehensive sense, includes a belief in the being and perfection of God, in the revelations of his will to man, in man’s obligation to obey his commands.”
Interestingly, no definition for ideology exists in Webster’s first dictionary, the word didn’t yet exist in the English language. The Latin root for religion is ligo, a word meaning “to bind.” The question becomes to what do we bind ourselves to by our faith—our trust? Is it what man sees (idea) or doesn’t see (religion)? This question is appropriate given this past Sunday’s rededication of America to God. The earliest dedications occurred at first landing on Cape Henry, Virginia in 1607 and again in Plymouth in 1620. Does man trust what he sees or what remains unseen? In creation, or God.
Islam Defined
Islam Is … defines Islam as follows. “The Arabic word Islam literally means ‘surrender’ or ‘submission.’ Islam, as a faith, means total and sincere surrender to God so that one can live in peace and tranquility. Peace (Salam in Arabic, Shalom in Hebrew) is achieved through active obedience to the revealed commandments of God … Islam is a complete way of life, implying a total submission to God. One who surrenders his or her will to God, voluntarily, is called a Muslim.”[2] This is an accurate statement about Islam, but it only lays out a faith component. So what other implications arise from the above definition? Especially in light of Allah’s nature and man’s relationship with him noted in the previous articles.
Islam is an Ideology
If Islam is a complete way of life, it must be more than a religion, and that is the case. One need only read a book discussing Islamic beliefs as derived from the sunnah, sirat, hadith, or sharia. One such resource is Reliance of the Traveller.[3] This work’s subtitle is A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law. It provides an understanding of sharia, as derived from the sunnah, and contained within the Qur’an and hadith.
For those not knowing what the above terms mean, they are briefly described below.
Qur’an: God’s full and final revelations to man.
Hadith: Oral traditions of what Muhammad said, did, or approved of, that were later written down.
Sirat Biographies of Muhammad’s life and actions.
Sunnah: Traditions based upon Muhammad’s conduct, basis for Sharia.
Sharia: The code for Islamic jurisprudence, but more. “By the Shari’ah of God is meant everything legislated by God for ordering man’s life.”[4]
The Role of Outside Influences
Outside influences played a significant role in shaping Islam. Foreign ideas entered Islam in the form of hadith. This is not my assertion. Islam borrowed its religious ideas from other sources,[5] including Christian heresies. It also borrowed heavily in other areas. Ignaz Goldziher’s written works represent classical studies of Islam. He said the following about the hadith.
“Not only law and custom, but theology and political doctrine also took the form of hadith. Whatever Islam produced on its own or borrowed from the outside was dressed up as hadith. In such form alien, borrowed matter was assimilated until its origin was unrecognizable. Passages from the Old and New Testaments, rabbinic sayings, quotes from apocryphal gospels, and even doctrines of Greek philosophers and maxims of Persian and Indian wisdom gained entrance into Islam disguised as utterances of the Prophet.”[6]
One finds sections within Reliance of the Traveller on such diverse topics as the nature of legal rulings, purification of containers and the body, visiting the sick and the dying, the selling of fruit and crops, personal loans, sharecropping, the bride’s marriage payment, the wedding feast, jihad, the Caliphate, arrogance, pride, conceit, armed revolt, and informing on another. Islam accounts for all aspects, both significant and insignificant, of one’s life. There is no separation between church, state, military, law, civics, or politics. All is Islam.
The Difference Between Ideology and Religion
This ideology is not only contrary to the Judeo-Christian tenets of our society’s foundation, but is incompatible with it. Islam is an ideology for the following reason. A religion is a particular system of beliefs, attitudes, emotions, behaviors, etc. constituting man’s relationship with some universal principle, power, or being. It concerns the relationship between man and that universal. Within Islam, Allah is inscrutable—unknowable. There can be no relationship between Allah and man, only obedience. On the other hand, within Christianity a relationship is to exist between man and God. Relationships are ordered; man and God first followed by those with our fellow man. All out of love.(Mark 12:28-31)
An ideology, on the other hand, is a set of ideas or objectives influencing a whole society or culture, especially their political and social structures. Ideology concerns only man’s relationships with his fellow man. Islam’s requirements direct society’s ordering.
No Separation of Church and the State
Within Christianity, these notions are separate. Within the Old Testament Moses led the Jewish people, while Aaron served as chief priest. There was a division between church and state even then. They were separate spheres of power within society. They had distinct responsibilities. This view is also carried forward into the New Testament. From the Gospel of Matthew, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.”[7]
From Romans 13 we have the following statement about government (the State). “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.”[8] While the Church and State were separate, they both derived their power from God, and were both to be turned toward Him.
This division does not exist within Islam. The primary purpose of governance within Islamic society is to carry out Islam’s requirements. Within societies based on Judeo-Christian principles the relationship between man and God (religion) is the church’s province. As a result of man’s nature and relationship with God, man has certain inherent unalienable rights granted to him by God. The state’s primary responsibility is protecting those rights (ideology). This difference could not be more profound as it stems from the Biblical principle that man is born free, whereas in Islam he is born a slave.
No Compulsion in Religion?
When the State and Church become one, history shows us over and over that both become corrupted. Islam Is … says the following about compulsion and religion.
“From this emphasis on free will, it follows that Islam can only be accepted by free choice. The purpose of human life is to worship God of one’s own free will. Therefore, matters of faith have value only if they are accepted on the basis of freedom of choice. If a person is coerced into accepting any religion, that acceptance is false and has no value. God, The Gentle, says, ‘There is no compulsion in religion. Truth stands out clear from error: whoever rejects evil and believes in God has grasped the most trustworthy handhold that never breaks. And God hears and knows all things.’ [Qur’an 2:256]”[9]
What the author leaves out is this verse has been abrogated by sura 9.5. In fact Islamic religious leaders assert the treatment of non-Muslims within Islamic countries (Dhimmis) aims to persuade their conversion to Islam.[10] We can sum up the difference in regards to religious freedom between our society and Islam as follows, within our society one has the freedom to choose from all moral things while within Islam one has the freedom to choose only one thing.
Within Islam one has the choice of death, living in submission to Islam (Dhimmitude), or converting to Islam. Such a choice is no choice at all. Instead it is making a choice under duress. Duress is constraint by force or fear; compulsion. We cover the notion of freedom soon, in a separate article.
Equality Under Sharia Law?
This topic is discussed in a future article. The short answer is no, there cannot be. There are differences in rights within Islam between believers and non-believers, women and men, and even between believers themselves.
Islam represents a way of life whose freedom we as Christians would not recognize nor acknowledge as such, stemming from the differences in God’s nature, man’s nature, and the relationship between them. There could not be more diametrically opposed notions of religion if one tried to create it. These differences lead to a difference in the meaning of submission and peace that is addressed in another article as well. We are just getting started.
Footnotes:
[1] Webster, Noah, American Dictionary of the English Language, Foundation for American Christian Education, 2021 reprinting.
[2] Seda, Pete, Islam Is …, p. 2, 2002.
[3] al-Misri, Ahmad ibn Naqib, Reliance of the Traveller, amana publications, 1994.
[4] Qutb, Sayyid, Milestones, SIME ePublishing, 2005.
[5] Wolf, Dan, Islamic Borrowings and the Arabic People, Virginia Christian Alliance, https://vachristian.org/?s=islamic+borrowings , March 12, 2026.
[6] Goldziher, Ignaz, Introduction to Islamic Theology and Law, p. 40, Princeton Press, 1981.
[7] Matthew 22:21, New American Standard Bible.
[8] Ibid, Romans 13:1.
[9] Seda, Pete, Islam Is …, p.29, 2002.
[10] Wolf, Dan, The Abbasid Dynasty – Part III, Dhimmitude, Virginia Christian Alliance, https://vachristian.org/?s=the+abbasid+dynasty , April 10, 2026.
