What is an Islamic state? This is a question that has been asked ever since the founding of the religion by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). As I will discuss later, this question has been answered in several different ways in different parts of the Muslim world.

Most recently, the question has become important as the various factions and leadership groups in Syria are attempting to establish a state that would serve its highly diverse population. What happens to Syria is likely to affect the rest of the Muslim world.

I should perhaps start with what Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Pakistan's founding father, had in mind when he campaigned for the establishment of Pakistan, a country in which the large majority of the citizenship would follow the Islamic faith. Was Jinnah creating an Islamic state or a country in which the large majority of the citizens would follow the Islamic faith?

He had an answer to this question in the much-quoted address delivered on August 11, 1947, three days before being sworn in as Pakistan's first Governor General. He made it clear that he had worked hard not to create an Islamic state but a state in which most Muslims of the British Indian colony would be able to live their lives as Muslims, not subject to the wishes of the Hindu majority that would greatly outnumber the Muslim subjects.

There was an enormous cultural difference between the members of these two communities. To illustrate this point, Jinnah is reported to have said that "whereas Hindus worship the animal cow, Muslims eat it."

In the countless meetings Jinnah had with the British leaders who had been........

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