Taking a quick look at the constitutions of other nations – old or new, east or west, Christian, Buddhist or Hindu, one could easily find out that there is no mixing between religion and politics at all.

Article 20 of the Japanese Constitution reads, “The freedom of belief is guaraneed for everyone. There shall be no special privileges from the state to any religious organization and no religious organization may practice any political power. The state and its institutions shall also refrain from any religious education”.

This is how we should contemplate why Japan has gone a long way towards progress and why we, Egyptians, are going backward. [Ahmad ‘Abd al-Mu’tī Hijāzī, al-Ahrām, July 18, p. 12] Read original text in Arabic