This paper explores the primary hypothesis tested in Wael Hallaq's latest book The Impossible State. It postulates that modernity, in the age of globalization, is endangered by an ethical crisis. Hallaq traces the roots of this crisis to the European Enlightenment and the philosophical premises which underpin it. According to Hallaq, the only way in which the present crisis can be addressed is through the restoration of religious values to a position of centrality within the world system.