Personally, I think the very idea of uniting the world based upon the ideals of the capitalistic “religion” (the principles of so – called democracy, and free market economy and its labels such as Third World, Less Economically Developed Countries, Civilised World, International Coalition etc. are just a few of its ritualistic expressions) is rather foolhardy and doomed to failure.
“Religion” is nothing more than an ideology consisting of a set of core beliefs/values. Politics is just an institutional form of expression of that ideology. So I maintain the view that religion and politics cannot be separated but rather that each is dependent upon the other. For example, democracy is a necessary political expression of Capitalism and its core values, although its core values are very limited in that they are more to do with economics than social issues (whereas the traditional Abrahamic faiths are “socialistic”).
Having a unified political identity does not necessarily mean having a single government for all the countries involved, as evident in the Europe Union. Therefore to have a political identity will not serve to weaken the Muslim People, but will in the long term, in my view be very fruitful. This allows for each nation to solve its own problems through its own governing state, but also to be an organised political and economical institution with a collective identity.
I agree, there is no “Muslim World” in the political sense, as yet, but that doesn’t mean it cannot be so in the future. If you look at the Muslim countries, the very problem is that they are disparate, nationalistic oriented countries. You have a mix of feudal monarchy, nationalistic democracy, Communist Ba’athist regimes and pure dictatorships which all make for very weak and dependent countries.
Your comparison of Islam with other religions is futile. Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism etc do NOT have an independent “prescribed” political and economical system, whereas Islam does. Even the implementation of the social and judicial system requires a form of political framework to be present. Take the example of Israel, a supposedly Jewish state, which in fact does not even have a “Jewish” political or economical or even social identity but is a secular capitalistic state – a mini USA. Iran on the other hand, having been a carbon copy of the States, is now a country with an Islamic political, social and economical system – a truly independent, progressive and dynamic country.
Even though the “Islamic World” is an anathema (to some extent) to the political and economical principles of the Western “powers that be”, I think its high time “opposing” Ideologies / Systems are recognised as equally valid as the current dogma. I believe the post 9/11 events have just set the ball rolling in favour of the Muslim World.
Islam was a great civilisation due to the very existence of its political, economical and social system. Once these systems became replaced with other ideologies, the civilisations collapsed. The very existence of Islam is synonymous with politics.
"Islam has never failed, merely paused".
With the upheavals of the world today, we are witnessing an end to the long pause.