Different divisions of the world have existed in Islamic religion and culture.The idea of divisions was suggested by Imam Abu Hanifa Some are geo-political divisions that are derived from non-Qu'ranic traditions in Islamic culture. These conventions delineate several
divisions of the world called "Houses" or "Dar" - literally "place" in Arabic. Other geographic divisions of the world are described in the
Qur'anThe Qur’an is the central religious text of Islam...
.
Dar al-Islam ( literally
house/abode of Islam; or
Dar as-Salam,
house/abode of Peace; or
Dar al-Tawhid,
house/abode of Union) is a term used by Muslim
scholarsUlema refers to the educated class of Muslim legal scholars engaged in the several fields of Islamic studies. They are best known as the arbiters of shari‘a law...
to refer to those countries where Muslims can practice their religion freely.
The late Sheikh Muhammad Abu Zahrah mentioned two main scholarly opinions concerning this matter.
Different divisions of the world have existed in Islamic religion and culture.The idea of divisions was suggested by Imam Abu Hanifa Some are geo-political divisions that are derived from non-Qu'ranic traditions in Islamic culture. These conventions delineate several
divisions of the world called "Houses" or "Dar" - literally "place" in Arabic. Other geographic divisions of the world are described in the
Qur'anThe Qur’an is the central religious text of Islam...
.
Dar al-Islam
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| Islamic flags, known as the Flag of Islam ('Alam For the organization ALAM, see Association of Licensed Automobile ManufacturersAlam is commonly an Arabic surname.'Alam means "flag" or "sign" in Arabic...
al-Islam) or Flag of Shahada ('AlamFor the organization ALAM, see Association of Licensed Automobile ManufacturersAlam is commonly an Arabic surname.'Alam means "flag" or "sign" in Arabic...
al-Shahada) feature a script of the first KalimahThe Kalimah , literally translates as 'the phrase'. It is referred to as such due to its centrality to Muslims in their faith...
, the Shahada. White flags with black lettering represent 'Dar al-Salam/Islam' (such as the Taliban), and black flags with white lettering represent 'Dar al-Harb/Kufr' (such as the ICU). Note that this has no basis in the Quran and Sunnah and thus is not accepted by Muslims.But, it was used by the islamic ottoman empire. |
Dar al-Islam ( literally
house/abode of Islam; or
Dar as-Salam,
house/abode of Peace; or
Dar al-Tawhid,
house/abode of Union) is a term used by Muslim
scholarsUlema refers to the educated class of Muslim legal scholars engaged in the several fields of Islamic studies. They are best known as the arbiters of shari‘a law...
to refer to those countries where Muslims can practice their religion freely.
The late Sheikh Muhammad Abu Zahrah mentioned two main scholarly opinions concerning this matter. He then chose the Imam Abu Hanifas, opinion that the question revolves around the matter of security. That is if a Muslim is safe and secure in the place he lives, then the place is Dar Islam, and if not, then it is Dar al-Harb .
The two requirements for a country to be part of
Dar al-Islam are according to the founder of this concept, Abu Hanifa, the following two:
- Muslims must be able to enjoy peace and security with and within this country.
- It has common frontiers with some Muslim countries.
If the former does not apply then physical means such as
JihadJihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād is a noun meaning "struggle." Jihad appears frequently in the Qur'an and common usage as the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of Allah "...
can be used to correct the situation and in the latter case, individuals are required to do
hijraHijra, as an Arabic word meaning migration may refer to:...
to where they can practice their religion.
Muslim scholars maintain that the labeling of a country or place as being a part of
Dar al-Islam revolves around the question of religious security. This means that if a Muslim practices Islam freely in his place of abode despite that the place happens to be secular or un-Islamic, then he will be considered as living in the
Dar al-Islam.
Dar al-Salam
Dar al-Islam is also known and referred to as Dar al-Salam, or house/abode of Peace.
The term appears in the Koran in 6.127 as a name of
ParadiseJannah is the Islamic conception of paradise. The Arabic word Jannah is a shortened version meaning simply "Garden". According to Islamic eschatology, after death, one will reside in the grave until the appointed resurrection on Yawm al-Qiyāmah...
.
Dar al-Harb
Dar al-Harb (Arabic: دار الحرب "house of war"; also referred to as
Dar al-Garb "house of the West" in later
OttomanOttoman Turkish is the variety of the Turkish language that was used as the administrative and literary language of the Ottoman Empire. It contains extensive borrowings from Arabic and Persian languages and was written in a variant of the Perso-Arabic script...
sources; a person from "Dar al-Harb" is a "harbi" (
ArabicArabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. In terms of speakers, the Arabic macrolanguage is the largest member of the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million people as...
:حربي)) is a term classically referring to those countries where the Muslim law is not in force, in the matter of
worshipThe Arabic word ibadah or ibada, usually translated "worship", is connected with related words literally meaning "every", and has connotations of obedience, submission, and humility. In terms of Islam, ibadah is the ultimate obedience, the ultimate submission, and the ultimate humility to God...
and the protection of the faithful and Dhimmis.
The term refers to the relationship between an Islamic state and neighbouring non-Muslim states with whom it has not signed a peace treaty or pact.
In
Reliance of the TravellerUmdat as-Salik wa 'Uddat an-Nasik is a classical manual of fiqh for the Shafi'i school of Islamic jurisprudence...
, point w43.2, a hadith is referred to containing the exact word Dar al-Harb. Scholars have, nevertheless, disagreed on its reliability as is commented in Reliance of the Traveller.
Dar al-Kufr
Dar al-KufrKafir is an Arabic word meaning "rejecter" or "ingrate," also the term "Kuffar" the plural of the word "Kafir" is used to refer to peasants Surah 57 Al-Hadid Ayah 20; as they till earth and "cover up" seeds...
(Arabic: دار الكفر, "house/domain of disbelief") is a term used by
MuhammadMuhammad ibn ‘Abdullāh , is the founder of the religion of Islam [ إِسْلامْ ] and is regarded by Muslims as a messenger and prophet of , the last and the greatest law-bearer in a series of Islamic prophets as taught by the...
to refer to the Quraish-dominated society of
MeccaMecca , sometimes spelled Makkah is the holiest meeting site of the Islamic religion. The city is modern, cosmopolitan and whilst being closed to non-Muslims is nonetheless ethnically diverse.Islamic tradition attributes the beginning of Mecca to Ishmael's descendants...
between his
flight to MedinaThe Hijra is the migration of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his followers to the city of Medina in 622 . Alternate spellings of this Arabic word in the Latin alphabet are Hijrah, or Hegira in Latin.- Hijra of Muhammad :...
and his triumphant
returnMecca was conquered by the Muslims in January 630 AD .. It is called Fatah-e-Mubeen, The Glorious Victory.-Background:...
.
For much of Islamic history, the preferred term used to describe non-Islamic societies has been dar al-Harb, emphasizing various Islamic countries' aspirations to conquer such territories and render them part of dar al-Islam.
A traditional Arabic saying attributed to Muhammad goes: "Unbelief is one
communityUmmah is an Arabic word meaning "community" or "nation". It is commonly used to mean either the collective nation of states, or the whole Arab world...
", or in other words, "infidels are of one nation", expressing the view that distinctions between different types of non-Muslims are insignificant in relation to the overriding distinction between Muslim and non-Muslim.
Dar al-Hudna
Dar al HudnaHudna is an Arabic term meaning a temporary "truce" or "armistice" as well as "calm" or "quiet", coming from a verbal root meaning "calm". It is sometimes translated as "cease-fire"...
(Arabic:
"house of calm"): The land of non-believers currently under a truce, which is a respite between wars. A truce is bought by tribute by harbis. If the harbis refuse to pay tribute in exchange for the truce, hostilities are resumed. Furthermore, only treaties that conform to Islamic prescriptions are valid; if these conditions are not fulfilled, the treaty is worthless.
Dar al-'Ahd
Dar al-'Ahd (Arabic: دار العهد "house of truce" or
Dar al-Sulh "house of treaty") was invented to describe the
Ottoman EmpireThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
's relationship with its
ChristianChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
tributaryA tribute is wealth one party gives to another as a sign of respect or, as was often case in historical contexts, of submission or allegiance...
states. The invention of Dar al-Ahd was necessary, as the worldview prevalent at the time did not allow for a protracted peace with non-Muslim states, even those under Muslim domination.
Today, the term refers to those non-Muslim governments which have armistice or peace agreements with Muslim governments. The actual status of the non-Muslim country in question may vary from acknowledged equality to tributary states.
Dar al-Dawa
Dar al-Dawa (Arabic: دار الدعوة "house of invitation") is a term used to describe a region where the religion of Islam has recently been introduced. Since the population had not been exposed to Islam before, they may not fit into the traditional definition of dar al-Harb. On the other hand, as the region is not yet Muslim, it cannot be dar al-Islam either. The most frequent use of the term
dar al-Dawa is to describe Arabia before and during the life of Muhammad commonly referred as
JahiliyyahJahiliyyah, al-Jahiliyah or jahalia is an Islamic concept of "ignorance of divine guidance" or "the state of ignorance of the guidance from God" or "Days of Ignorance" referring to the condition Arabs found themselves in pre-Islamic Arabia, i.e. prior to the revelation of the Qur'an to Muhammad...
period, era of ignorance of divine guidance.
More recently, the term
dar al-Dawa has been proposed by
WesternThe Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term that can have multiple meanings depending on its context...
Muslim philosophers to describe the status of Muslims in the West.
The term
dar al-Dawa may be used in conjunction with, or in opposition to, the older terms
dar al-Islam and
dar al-Harb, from which it is derived, or simply be seen as just another sub-category of dar al-harb.
Dar al-Amn
Dar al-Amn (Arabic: دار الأمن "house of safety") is a term proposed by Western Muslim philosophers to describe the status of Muslims either in the West or other non-Muslim societies.
The term
dar al-Amn may be used in conjunction with, or in opposition to, the older terms
dar al-Islam and
dar al-Harb, from which it is derived.
Scriptural references
The house of divisions in
IslamIslam Islam Islam ( al-’islām,
[There are ten pronunciations of Islam in English, differing in whether the first or second syllable has the stress, whether the s is or , and whether the a is pronounced as in father, as in cat, or (when the stress is on the i) as in the a of sofa...]
such as "Dar al-Islam" and "Dar al-Harb" does not appear in the
Qur'anThe Qur’an is the central religious text of Islam...
or the
HadithHadith are oral traditions relating to the words and deeds of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Hadith are regarded by traditional schools of jurisprudence as important tools for determining the Muslim way of life, the sunnah. Hadith were originally oral traditions of Muhammad's actions and customs...
.But a view supported by Abu Hanifa, a high profile Sunni Imam who founded the Hanafi school of thought.
See also
- Christendom
Christendom, or the Christian world, has several meanings. In a cultural sense it refers to the worldwide community of Christians, adherents of Christianity. This community numbers in the billions of people of the world population. This community is spread across many different nations and ethnic...
- Islamic studies
Islamic studies is an ambiguous term. In a Muslim context, "Islamic studies" can be an umbrella term for all virtually all of academia, both originally researched and as defined by the Islamization of knowledge. As such it includes all the traditional forms of religious thought, such as Islamic...
- Ummah
Ummah is an Arabic word meaning "community" or "nation". It is commonly used to mean either the collective nation of states, or the whole Arab world...
- Pan-Islamism
Pan-Islamism is a political movement advocating the unity of Muslims under one Islamic state — often a Caliphate. As a form of religious nationalism, Pan-Islamism differentiates itself from other pan-nationalistic ideologies, for example Pan-Arabism, by excluding culture and ethnicity as primary...
- Caliphate
The term caliphate refers to the first form of government inspired by Islam. It was initially led by Muhammad's disciples as a continuation of the political authority the prophet established, known as the 'rashidun caliphates'. It represented the political unity of the Muslim Ummah, and was the...
- Dhimmi
A dhimmi is a non-Muslim subject of a state governed in accordance with sharia law...
- Harbi
External links