Separating state law from religious morality requires a new conception of ethics.

Evidence

The separation presupposes a very different conception of ethics from the one embedded in the classical shari¯‘a. That is why my reading of Safwat’s texts is followed by a discussion of the relation between law and ethics in classical Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh). And why I return from this digression into classical thought to an analysis of connections between ritual worship (‘iba¯da¯t)—as stipulated in the rules of the shari¯‘a—and the authority of the religious law. — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 995

Categorization

• XREF: Directly parallel to the Cooper thread — the secular/religious split as a reconfiguration of ethics rather than a neutral subtraction.