Religious scholars and leaders have a view of the social order that they regard as divinely ordained. Often their surety of the righteous path makes them relatively inflexible and, if in power, punitive in enforcing their views. Overall, religious leaders’ views, certainty, and evaluating facts through the prism of their beliefs make them poor worldly decision-makers. History bears it out. Religious states tend to extend their territories and get into conquests and war defeats.

The management of a state’s affairs requires a moral order, which could be religiously inspired, but has to give due regard to empirical facts and prevailing conditions.

Historically, in Muslim countries, there was rarely a rule of religious scholars (Mullahs). Imams Abu Hanifa, Shafi, Hanbal and Ghazali were all kept out of power, and those who attempted to enter statecraft were punished.

Coming to the present times, there are two outstanding examples of Mullahs’ rule, namely Iran and Afghanistan. To give my conclusion first, though evidence will follow, both are failed states in different ways.

Let us examine Iran’s state performance. Iran is a country of 91 million people (2024). It is well endowed with both natural and human resources. It is a major oil producer and has the world’s second-largest natural gas reserves. Its literacy rate is 93% and, as an indication of its population’s modern outlook, its fertility rate is below replacement level now, near 2.0. Women form a majority in universities, despite many restrictions on them. It is a middle-income country with a GNI per capita of........

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