Islam is not a religion. It is a socio-political system with a military component, with religion as a beard. Masquerading as a religion, if you will.
I understand what you are saying, and I completely agree with you that Islam is a socio-political system. But in my opinion, almost every socio-political system is, in fact, a religion.
By that I mean a set of beliefs and rules that must be adhered to and against which individuals can be judged worthy or unworthy of being included or excluded from community. Under that description, Islam, Hinduism, Liberalism, Communism, Socialism, even Conservatism, Capitalism and (though this may get me in trouble) Freeperism.
Sometimes Christianity falls into that category but at its core, I do not believe Christianity is a religion (though it is not unreasonable to use that description in conventional language.) Jesus was pretty clear on the topic. The most "religious" people of his age, the Pharisees, were the ones he criticized the most.