Dar al-Harb and Dar al-Islam (the Abodes of War and Peace): Difference between revisions

Traditionally, [[Shari'ah (Islamic Law)|Islamic law]] has understood the world as divided into a number of distinct domains based upon the relationship of the ruling parties to Islam and the [[Khilafah (Caliphate)|Islamic state, or Caliphate]]. Whether or not these territories have always existed or continue to exist, virtually all Islamic scholars until today agree on the existence, at least conceptually, of such a place as the ''Dar al-Harb'' (lit. "Abode of War") and ''Dar al-Islam'', ''Dar al-Salam'', or ''Dar al-Tawhid'' (lit. "Abode of Islam", or "Peace", or "Unity"). More controversial throughout history and experiencing varying levels of intellectual assent and much definitional debate, although growing in popularity in recent times, has been the tertiary domain of ''Dar al-Sulh'' or ''Dar al-Ahd'' (lit. "Abode of Treaty", or "Truce"). The purpose of these distinctions is to delineate the imperial policy of the Islamic state. Most simplistically, the regions controlled by or subservient to the Islamic state have been considered as constituting the Dar al-Islam and those not as constituting the Dar al-Harb. Scholars have differed as to whether regions with which the Islamic state has a treaty ought to be considered part of the Dar al-Harb or the tertiary category of Dar al-Sulh. Scholars have also differed as to whether, if such a place as the Dar al-Sulh exists, it can be considered permanent. This is because most classical scholars agreed that the Islamic state, destined to conquer the entire world, was not permitted by God to have everlasting treaties with non-subservient political or military entities, with many agreeing on a 10-year maximum-limit on peaceful relations with any such entity. The questions of whether or not such treaties, albeit temporary, could be again and again renewed and to whether or not multiple independent Islamic states, as have often existed throughout history and as exist today, could together constitute the Dar al-Islam as opposed to a single unified state has complexified the debate.