[UMATURLIN]

In technical training of yours truly the open end type of problems were the most unsettling.
Indian text books do not have that kind kind of problems.
Only those problems are presented to students that have cut and dried solutions.
Life, of course, is not like that. It throws problems at you irrespective of the fact whether you are prepared for them or not.
Western text books sort of have the tradition to present open ended problems.

May be western students are better prepared to face life, most probably not.
But that is not the main question of this thread.
Here yours truly would like to propose that Islam itself is an open ended proposition.
And this has to be clarified.

There is a question which is usually thrown at Muslims - give a practical example of an Islamic state.
Now if you give any example then every example will be shot down.

Example : Prophetic period.
Negation : O that is about Propeht (PBUH) - now talk of real times of mortals.

Example : Companions (RA) times.
Negation : That too is far back.

Example : Umar bin Abdul Aziz (RA)
Negation : Talk of present times, not medieval mentality.

Example : Salahudding Ayyubi
Negation : He was just a conqueror.

and so on.

Apparently the conclusion is that we Muslims do not have a well defined concept of a state.

This misses the point of Islam.

The Islamic proposition is that you have to live your life according to the Shariah brought by beloved Prophet (PBUH). And people did implement part of it in their lives. And even with partial implementation they got wonderful results. Not inferior in any way as compared to the modern US or Europe.

Proposition of Islam is open ended. This world is an examination and an examination only. A test and a test only. Actual declaration of result is in the hereafter.

Of course there are enough indications in this world also about acceptance of your efforts as Muslims. "When comes Allah (SWT) help, and victory."
Just see how peripheral is victory!
A sort of damp squib.
Beloved Prophet (PBUH) told us to live like a guest, nay, like a traveler.
No destination in this world for a believer! Your real destination is Jannah.

So when Allah (SWT)'s help comes then victory follows suit and every such incident should be taken as an example of Islam at work.

So in spite of the fact that many of the Muslim Empires of history might not have been Islamic but that was Islam in action - because of some elements of Islam present there, even if it was in name. We should not be fooled by considering every Muslim Empire of history as Islamic but the danger of the opposite is more - we might trash a Muslim Empire as un-Islamic because there was not enough Islam visible there. That is a mistake. A Muslim gets blessings in life because of Allah (SWT)'s pleasure. Empires of non-believers and polytheists are because of their Rizq only - pleasure of Allah (SWT) is missing from their.

So Mughal, Ottoman, Spain, Sokoto, Egypt and others were an example of Islam at work - demonstration that Islam works.