Meaning of ancient

Submitted by Prashant (United States), Jan 4, 2016 at 22:23

Dear Dr Pipes,

When you said, "The dynamic here is ancient: As Islamists approach power, they fight amongst themselves for dominance.", what did you mean by the word "ancient"? Did you mean a few decades or a few centuries (since the inception of the religion)?

When I look back at the history of the world, Islam probably is the only religion that made a complete amalgamation of church and state. The founder of Islam was as much a religious leader as a general and ruler and to the best of my understanding Islam mandates that the state works for the advancement of religion. If these observations are correct, the history of power struggle within the custodians of the Islamic religion is not recent (decades) but ancient (centuries). I want to know if these observations are as obvious to others as they seem to me. Peace and prosperity in the Islamic world will come only when there is sufficient separation of church and state in the Islamic world. Unfortunately that has never been the case.

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