HEZBOLLAH is basking in its success. Many Muslims who were weary of “the Party of Allah” now openly support it. After all, taking on the might of the Israeli army and defeating it is no small achievement. But that is not the only reason for the change of heart.

One thing Muslims like me find attractive about Hezbollah is the importance it attaches to charitable works. The Koran repeatedly asks Muslims to “give charitably from the good things you have acquired”. In Lebanon Hezbollah’s record in this area is impeccable. It builds schools, hospitals, orphanages. It looks after widows and the needy. After the ceasefire Hezbollah’s leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, said that his party would rebuild the destroyed houses and other buildings, pay a stipend for a full year to the homeless, and look after the widows and orphans of the war.

Many people are also impressed by Hezbollah’s emphasis on what I would regard as the basic virtues of Muslim faith: integrity, honesty, unselfishness. Hezbollah’s members never boast, do exactly what they say — this is a rare virtue in the Arab world — and are known for their honest dealings. The party lives by the Koranic injunction: “Say, my prayer and my sacrifice and my life and my death are all for God.” That is why, I think, it is supported not just by the Shia but also by the Sunnis as well as by Christians and Druze.

But these positive aspects of Hezbollah should not distract us from understanding its overall goal: to create a faith-based state in Lebanon.

This is where Hezbollah and I part company. If recent Muslim history is anything to go by, the so-called Islamic states, where Islam controls all aspects of citizens’ lives, have been a disaster.

Take the “Islamic state” of Iran, for example. It is ruled by a council of clerics headed by a supreme ayatollah. Everything is subordinate to their wishes. They pass judgments on mundane matters of faith, interpret Islamic law, issue diktats on matters of public policy and decide when to go to war. Everyone is obliged to follow their orders — without question.

Religion, politics, law and morality thus become one and the same. The jurists provide automatic religious justification for every political act, however reprehensible, and seek to impose a uniform morality on everyone. The result is theocratic totalitarianism.

This tendency is all too evident in the current structure of Hezbollah. It is led by a supreme shura, or council, consisting of 17 members, all of whom are clerics. The council issues religious edicts, political instructions and military orders and functions as executive, judiciary and clergy all rolled into one. The general secretary of the party, Sheikh Nasrallah, heads a nine-member executive committee that takes directions from the shura. When it cannot reach a decision, it refers judgment to the supreme ayatollah, who also happens to be the supreme authority of Iran: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

So Hezbollah’s success against Israel, its charitable works and its emphasis on living by the Koran should not blind British Muslims to its overall goal. An authoritarian, theocratic state will actually undermine all the good it does and stands for.

In Islam, politics can never really be separated from religion. Muslims have interpreted this to mean that they must work to create an Islamic state. I would argue for a new interpretation where politics based on faith is directed towards developing a civic society.

When the Koran tells Muslims to co-operate with other communities, and “help one another in goodness and piety”, it is not asking Muslims to create a state based on faith. Rather, it is suggesting that the faithful should strive to create a good, equitable and just civic society.

This is what the Prophet Muhammad himself endeavoured to achieve. The society he shaped in Mecca, which is regarded by all Muslims as a model, was an open, inclusive, community based on accountable governance.

That is what Hezbollah ought to be working towards. Sunni Muslims like me think that our Shia brothers are much more liberal, open to debate and new interpretation than any other sect in Islam. I hope Hezbollah will prove me right.

Ziauddin Sardar’s most recent book is What Do Muslims Believe? (Granta, £6.99)