It seems to me that the discourse of Political Islam should not be infused with a sense of confrontation or animosity towards non-Muslims. It should be anti-imperialist, anti-colonialist, certainly; but there is no reason why non-Muslims should be automatically regarded as hostile to Islamism, nor should Islamists be automatically hostile towards them. Of course, the mainstream Western media will do all it can to instill this sort of hostility, but this does not mean it should naturally be the case.
If we do what we are supposed to do; that is, if we actually do the work of building a platform of political policies and positions that reflect Islamic values and adhere to the Shari’ah, rather than merely shout slogans and empty rhetoric; there is every reason to believe that non-Muslims, as much as Muslims themselves, are capable of recognizing fairness, social justice, and solutions to the problems we all face.
Historically, non-Muslims flourished within the Islamic system ; how else to you think Islam spread? It did not spread by means of forced conversion, it spread because non-Muslim peoples living under the Islamic state witnessed for themselves the beauty and goodness of Islam, and they contrasted the behavior of the Islamic state with the behavior of their former regimes.
It seems like many of the jihadis and Khilafah-ists today yearn for the establishment of Islamic government so that they can wreak vengeance against the kuffar living in their societies. Well, that would be an Islamic state unrecognizable to the Khulafah Rashideen and the Pious Predecessors, who were circumspect about upholding the rights of all citizens under their authority.
The call for Shari’ah should not be made in a manner similar to a threat, like “watch out Kafir! The Khilafah is coming to get you!” It should be made like the call to Islam itself, with calmness, wisdom, compassion, and reason.
But in order to do this, as I said, we have to do the necessary intellectual work, and define what Political Islam means, what policies it advocates, what real world practical solutions it offers.
We are living in an era, al-Hamdulillah, in which old ideas are being cast aside, and the young generations are open to new ideas, whether they are being espoused by a Socialist like Bernie Sanders or a billionaire capitalist like Donald Trump.
There is no reason why Political Islam cannot move beyond being a niche in the political spectrum with a narrow constituency within Muslim populations; if we truly believe that it contains solutions for the suffering of mankind, it deserves to be articulated and offered to everyone.