Muslims have both an individual and a corporate religious identity and responsibility. Thus to be a Muslim, to follow Islam ("submission" to God), entails both an individual and a communal responsibility as members of a worldwide community (ummah) to obey and implement God's will on earth in both the private and public spheres. The Qurʾān and the example of the prophet Muḥammad teach that Muslims have a universal mission to spread the religion of Islam and to establish a just society on earth, based on recognition of God (Allāh) as the source of all authority, law, and order. Historically politics have often been a central vehicle by which Islam was implemented in state and society.

Religion and Politics in Early Islam

How and under what form and institutions an Islamic society is to be established has been subject to many interpretations...