Despite efforts at secularization, the gap between Muslim and Western outlooks has, if anything, grown in recent years, as religion has regained ascendancy in most Muslim countries. Sharia religious law – extreme versions of which hold that conduct decriminalized in the West, such as adultery and homosexuality, is punishable by death – influences their legal codes.
尽管存在一些世俗化努力，但穆斯林和西方世界观之间的距离在近几年越拉越大，在大部分穆斯林国家，宗教重新取得了支配地位。伊斯兰教法——其中最极端者坚持认定在西方早已不是犯罪的行为——比如通奸和同性恋——应该处以死刑——影响着地方规范。此外，在许多国家，绝大多数穆斯林认为伊斯兰教法应该成为官方法律。