Major world religions and their relations with politics Essay

Religion and politics are quite mingled into society both in the developed world as well as in the developing world. Religion and politics are two divisions of a single person. Religion speaks for a persons moral values and beliefs and politics reaches out to ones secular lifestyle. People involved in society may have deep rooted religious beliefs that control their behaviors and thought process and this should not stop anyone from partaking in the political domain. However, the split between the two does cause controversial decision making. Major religions such as Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism are some religions being focused on and how these faiths relate to politics.
Islam has been and still is heavily intertwined within the society and government with no real line separating the two. The Prophet Muhammad started Islam in Mecca, Arabia centuries ago and now it has grown to become the second largest religion dominating the world today. Muslims, Islamic believers, believe in one God which translates to Allah in the Arabic language. Their beliefs are based off of their holy book, Quran, and the Sunnah. The Sunnah is the verbally transmitted records of Muhammad and it designates five basic Pillars of Islam, declaration of faith, praying five times a day, giving money to charity, fasting, and a pilgrimage to Mecca at least one time. (http//www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/ataglance/glance.html)
Islam is not only religion, it is the backbone of how the government is ran. An Islamic country follows six main principles such as Sovereignty of Allah swt. Muslims believe that Allah is allpowerful who knows what is good and bad for his servants and his say is final. Khilafah of Mankind. Man is the representation of Allah and man is to always behave as Allah would behave. Man is supposed to carry out his will on earth. Legislation by Shura. This states that the Quran and Sunnah will be the basis of legislation in Islam. Accountability of government. The Islamic political system makes the ruler ad government responsible first to Allah and then to the people. The ruler must work for the welfare of the people according to the Quran and Sunnah. While the ruler is a servant of the people, as elected by them, all are accountable for their individual actions at judgment time. Independence of judiciary. This states that all are independent and anyone can be called to justice regardless of position. Equality before the law. Every citizen is equal before the law and it only takes preference of one over the other based on how much the person fears Allah. (http//www.angelfire.com/bc3/johnsonuk/eng/dawa/politic.html)
It is clear that Islam has no great boundaries between church and state. In fact, the religion is the cornerstone for their government rule. They live by the directions spelled out for them in the Quran and the Sunnah. With this, many Islamic states have developed with each sect taking a different interpretation of what Allah wants, and what the Quran says is the difficult part in having one true Islamic state.