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The Impossible State

Wael Hallaq

Islamic law / modern state critique

It belongs on a route examining Islamic law and modernity by challenging the coherence of the Islamic state idea.

Synopsis

An argument that the modern state and classical Islamic governance are structurally incompatible, so a genuine Islamic state cannot exist on modern terms.

Core passage idea

Paraphrase · Modern copyrighted work

The modern state's sovereignty and bureaucratic logic clash fundamentally with the moral and legal order of classical Islamic governance.

It reframes debates over Islamic politics as a conflict between two incompatible kinds of political and moral order.

To avoid a bubble

Pair with Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan.

Reading note

Read it for its contrast between the modern state and the classical sharia tradition, noting its idealized model.

Best paired with

Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan

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