The relation between religion and the state presents itself as one of the most problematic issues that face Arab countries after the Arab Spring, which created a conflict between two parties, Islamist and secular. The first believes in the term 'political Islam' or (political-religious state), which means mingling religion with politics, while the other believes that law is the only source of legislation. This conflict urges people to think about the future of the modern country that was created after the Arab Spring. What 'model' of the modern country are Arabs searching for? Is it the secular model that is copied from the West? Is it a secular model that can accord with Arab and Islamic beliefs? Or is it going back to the Caliphate era, where the political-religious state accommodated the Muslim community under its dominion in the centuries following the death of the Prophet Mohammad? These questions and more are discussed in a new book entitled Religion and the State in the Arab World issued by the Centre for Arab Unity Studies in Beirut in co-operation with The Swedish Institute in Alexandria (SwedAlex). The book is a result of a three-day seminar organised by the SwedAlex together with the Centre for Arab Unity Studies and held last year in Hamamet, Tunisia, on the state and religion in the Arab world. About 70 scholars from nineteen countries participated and a number of interesting papers were presented. The seminar focused on the relationship between the state and religion in contemporary societies in the MENA region as well as in Europe. The book contains thirteen paper in which historic comparisons are made and the relationship between religion and the state in Turkey compared to that in Iran and other topics deals with approaches towards reforming contemporary religious discourse. "The topic of the book is very timely," said the Swedish Ambassador to Egypt Malin Kärre during the book launch held on Sunday in the Swedish Embassy. During the event Ambassador Birgitta Holst Alani, the director of the Swedish Institute in Alexandria and Dr Khair El-Din Haseeb, director of the Centre for Arab Unity Studies in Beirut gave a brief presentation to the book. "The book introduces a very important topic, which many people in different places in the world speak about it, not only in the Arab countries, even in Sweden," stated Ambassador Alani. She explained that the book discusses the relation between religion and the state, which is one of the most controversial issues facing the model of a modern state in the Arab world. "The book is now being translated to English in London and we will going to hold another launch for the translated version when it is finished," added Ambassador Alani. "The topic of the seminar which is featured in this book is important as well as necessary, because there is a real crisis over this issue specially in Egypt," remarked Khair El-Din Haseeb, director of the Centre for Arab Unity Studies in Beirut. "We have been interested in the topic since we established the Centre for Arab Unity Studies in Beirut in the seventies," added Haseeb. He noted as well that the Centre is always keen to invite people from different currents to present different points of view. Religion and the State in the Arab World not only include research but also comments of the people who attended the lecture. "Normally, publishers only publish papers but this is the first time that the comments are published as well," Haseeb pointed out. "We did so in order to make our readers think with an argumentative mentality. There is nothing called absolute truth," he declared. In his opinion, Haseeb believes that the transitional period in Egypt should not be a one-current's rule because in this period, the country is faced by huge tasks and problems and only one current would not be able to solve all these alone. "We need Egypt to regain its leading role in the Arab world," said Haseeb, who also mentioned that every person should help in this change according to his abilities and that every one has a role to play to form the future of this country.
