I think this is correct, but there is a difference even so. Islam was something like a state religion from a very early point in its history, and there is much in the Qur’an and hadith that reflects this. Christianity got started among mostly-poor mostly-powerless subjects of the Roman Empire, and the New Testament reflects this. It’s only hundreds of years later that it became a state religion.
I suspect (but don’t know) that this makes it easier to be a reasonably conventional Christian without feeling that your religion should be in control of the state, than to be a reasonably conventional Muslim without feeling that your religion should be in control of the state.
Islam was something like a state religion from a very early point in its history
Not “something like”, but “a classical full-blown dialed-to-eleven” state religion. Note, for example, that early Islam knows no distinction between religious laws and state laws. The idea that they could be different would be treated as an idiocy.
I think this is correct, but there is a difference even so. Islam was something like a state religion from a very early point in its history, and there is much in the Qur’an and hadith that reflects this. Christianity got started among mostly-poor mostly-powerless subjects of the Roman Empire, and the New Testament reflects this. It’s only hundreds of years later that it became a state religion.
I suspect (but don’t know) that this makes it easier to be a reasonably conventional Christian without feeling that your religion should be in control of the state, than to be a reasonably conventional Muslim without feeling that your religion should be in control of the state.
Not “something like”, but “a classical full-blown dialed-to-eleven” state religion. Note, for example, that early Islam knows no distinction between religious laws and state laws. The idea that they could be different would be treated as an idiocy.