We have seen that the Qur’an incorporates the social order into the religious. This is, on the one hand, a recovery, it having been so included in all early – ‘whole’, tribal and ethnic – cultures. The inclusion is likewise logically indicated; the sacred/profane dichotomy may be required as an expedient in times and places, but it can never from the religious point of view be considered normative. Buddhism and Christianity, the other universal and missionary religions, do not embrace society. The ethnic religions – Hinduism, Judaism and in a different way Confucianism and Shintoism – do, but with a specificity which makes them unexportable.

Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Ideals and Realities of Islam, page 7

Categories: Dr Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Islam