This
is a very interesting question! Islam is a fascinating religion to study and has some distinct
differences from other major world religions when it comes to leadership and the role of the
state.
A quote from the Women's Islamic Initiative in Spirituality &
Equality helps us understand how the religious system works:
According to the Qur'an and Sunnah, religious leadership in Islam should be understood
as a system based on merit, whereby leadership positions are determined according to each
candidate's mastery of religious knowledge and acceptance by his or her community to lead as a
moral example. The purpose of this system is to ensure that the most competent person is
selected to lead the community and to educate those seeking knowledge, regardless of their
gender.
Instead of an institutionalized clergy, in Islam
the most qualified person is supposed to be chosen as a religious leader. This person would have
studied the holy books extensively and thus would be a reliable reference for others when it
comes to questions about the religion. Religious leadership, then, is based on study and
knowledge, and each individual's mastery of this would qualify him or her for a leadership
position.
In terms of the state's influence in religious matters, things get
more complicated. Islam is not just a religion but a way of life. This means that almost all
aspects of a person's life are dictated by the religion, if they follow it as written. More
often, we can see examples of how the Islamic religion influences state matters, rather than the
other way around. For example, this quote from Oxford Islamic Studies:
Islamic states are very different from each other in their most
important political aspects. Such countries might be similar in terms of applying so-called
Islamic penalties (ḥudūd) or of trying to avoid the receiving or giving of
banking interest taken to be forbidden (usury, or ribÄ), yet they are very
different from each other with regard to their political forms and constitutional arrangements.
Nor do they usually have mutual recognition of each other as being Islamic states.
Islamic states, as they are called, can have some rules based on
the Qur'an, such as no interest and specific penalties of law. However, in other ways each
majority-Muslim state can have its own political organization and does not recognize any others
as specifically Islamic states. Depending on each government's history, you would find vastly
different answers to the question of how state influences religion and vice
versa.
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