Portal: Islamic Doctrine: Difference between revisions

*[[Christians Jews and Muslims in Heaven]]

Beyond the normative, historical, and apocalyptic prescripts they contain, Islamic scriptures have what can only be described as a distinctive Islamic understanding of anthropology, sociology, and psychology. Here, the world is comprised of two fundamentally distinct parties: those who believe and live by the law of God, and those who don't - the latter must variously be transformed into the former, suppressed, or exterminated. The believing, obedient peoples are the members of the Muslim ''ummah'', or nation, which enjoys a global unity. The lands of these people comprise the ''dar al-Islam'', or Abode of Islam - the rest of the Earth, until it can be transformed, is ultimately the ''dar al-harb'', or Abode of War. Tactical and temporary alliances with non-Muslim entities may, however, be permissible. All humans are born upon the ''fitrah'', which is the natural instinct to believe in and obey the Islamic God - children's  un-Islamic upbringings, however, numb them to this instinct. Still, they can be called back to their (pre-)natural disposition - this invitation to return is known as ''Da'wah''. This Da'wah can be anything from an intellectual to a military enterprise - Indeed, per a quote from Muhammad recorded in Sahih Bukhari, some people will be dragged to "Paradise in chains".<ref>{{Bukhari|4|52|254|}}</ref> Since true religion cannot follow from compulsion, the Muslim ''Ummah'' is tasked only with achieving the extrinsic and perceptible markers of faith and ''khilafah'', or holy empire - persons may be punished or rewarded for what they say, but the true proving grounds of submission are, incontrovertibly, in the heart.

{{PortalArticle|summary=|title=Let There be no Compulsion in Religion|image=Quran 2-256.png|description=Quran 2:256 famously opens, "There is no compulsion in religion". While some modern interpretations have read this verse to contain legislative value, suggesting that the death penalty traditionally prescribed by consensus for apostasy is somehow not applicable. Historically, however, this verse was mostly either read as having been abrogated (for instance, by Ibn Kathir), or read as descriptive rather than legislative - that is, it was understood to simply mean that a person could not be forced to believe (as this is plainly impossible), without commenting on the consequences of their refusal to believe. The scholars who did read this verse as legally prescriptive did not view it as applicable to pagans and apostates.}}{{PortalArticle|image=Diversehats.png|description=''Ummah'' (أمة‎) is an Arabic word meaning "community" or "nation". In Islam the word is used to refer to the collective worldwide body of Muslim believers, including both the Muslim population of Dar al-Islam and the Muslim population of Dar al-Harb who are living outside the lands where Islam rules. The leader of the ummah is known as the is theoretically to be the Caliph, "Amir Al-Mu'minin" or "Commander of the Believers", although no widely-accepted figure has held this position since the fall of the Ottoman caliphate after the end of the World War I.|summary=|title=Ummah}}