Naturally, not all advocates of an Islamic state in our time are followers of the Ikhwān and their tactics. Nor do the same generalities and the same vagueness of detail characterise all efforts resulting in blue-prints. Two treatises devoted to the constitutional framework and to the government and administration of an Islamic state deserve special attention. This is because they supply the theory underlying the attempt to set up an Islamic state in Pakistan, and thus their discussion will naturally lead to the second part of this book illustrating the various aspects of the practical measures to build a modern national state in countries with Muslim majorities where Islam is a problem. In our context it does not matter whether Islam is a central or a mere peripheral problem in the state as long as we preserve a sense of proportion. But as long as Islam is a factor in such a state it is important to know how those determined that Islam should play a role in public life envisage this role in practice. These treatises are not theoretical speculations; they are conditioned by the practical needs of a state and constitute a programme for political action.

MUHAMMAD ASAD'S PLAN

Muhammad Asad elaborates in his recent book The Principles of State and Government in Islam the ideas he propounded not long after the emergence of the state of Pakistan in his essay Islamic Constitution-Making.