it is … somewhat misguided to say that PIJ seeks the establishment of an Islamic state in the traditional understanding of the term. As I have demonstrated, [for PIJ] the state should be exempt from religious matters as it is the main contender and threat to Islamic values that the movement attempts to preserve as guidelines for societal development and order. Instead of seeking a strong Islamic state through which policies are implemented from the top down, values are maintained and preserved through civil society from the bottom up. As Abu Taha postulated, the state in an ideal society “becomes a functional state and not a divine state or a sovereign state; nor a theocratic state, a Marxist state or an Islamic state, no. It becomes a functional state apparatus that serves the people.” The function of the state will thus be limited to that of an executive branch of power. Although the institution of scholars emerges as an institution of state-like power through its legislative function, the scholars are nevertheless portrayed as exterior to structures of the state in PIJ’s political philosophy.

— History of Palestinian Islamic Jihad by Erik Skare (Page 202 - 203)