The Political Language of Islam (1988) by Bernard Lewis is a work in the contemporary, scholarly understanding of the relationship between Islam and politics and in the contemporary, scholarly understanding of the political realities of predominantly Muslim countries and, to a lesser extent, of countries with large Muslim communities.^[1][2]

Classic Islamic thought recognized no separation between church and state.^[3] According to Lewis, the idea of the secular only began to enter the political thought of Muslim countries and communities in the 19th century.^[3]