But a recent al-Azhar announcement urged Egypt to form a modern and a non-religious state; it said that “Islam never, throughout its history, experienced such a thing as a religious or a theocratic state.”
While such claim is hugely debatable, as Islamist purists or devotees including some moderates dub theocracy or indirect theocracy as a desired outcome for their governance.
Other critics have also described Islam’s inception 1,438 ago as political as it is spiritual, thereby influencing many facets in life including little mundane ones.
Not going through the labyrinth of al-Azhar’s attempt compromising with modernity, but its pronouncement proves one thing, an institution or individual can highly influence and inspire with a far reaching effect.
Therefore, al-Azhar’s announcement about the nature of Islamic rules, whether right or not, is besides the issue