Shari'a and the state in Pakistan

In Pakistan, Muslim "modernists" are characterized above all by the desire to rethink and adapt Muslim practices, institutions, and norms in light of what they understand to be the true "spirit" of Islam and in light of the imperatives of modernity. Islamists share much with the modernists in their intellectual background, but the Islamists' single-minded concern with the public implementation of Islamic norms sets them apart. There are differences between the ulama and the Islamists, too. Many among the ulama are critical of what they see as the excessively politicized view of Islam held by Islamists. However, the interests of the ulama and the Islamists often converge on the question of the public implementation of the shari'a.