Faithlines - Institutional configurations and trust in religious institutions in Muslim societies

Historical scholarship indicates that the institutional configurations of I slamic societies can be classified into two types, namely, differentiated s ocial formations (societies in which religion and state occupy different sp ace), and undifferentiated social formations (societies in which religion a nd state are integrated i.e., Islamic state). Using survey data from a comp arative study of four Muslim societies, this paper examines the level of tr ust in religious institutions in these two types of Muslim social formation s. The evidence reveals that the level of trust in religious institutions t ends to be significantly higher in differentiated Muslim social formations. The paper discusses the possible sociological implications of this finding for Muslim societies and proposes an explanatory model to account for the finding. It concludes that an Islamic state may not always be in the best i nterests of Islamic institutions and religious elite. The empirical evidenc e also suggests that the trust in religious institutions in Muslim societie s is positively associated with trust in key institutions of the state. Imp lications of this finding are also discussed.