umm Abdillah, Radio Islam Programming | 2015.06.04 | 16 Sha’ban 1436 H
This is part of a Radio Islam series taking apart oft-mentioned contestations of ISIS propagandists. Those who aim ISIS rhetoric at unwitting South African audiences create confusion, mayhem and aim to weaken public faith in the guidance of our Ulama.
Part 4 of our series is answered by Abu Hudhaifa, Moulana Muhammed Karolia of Jaami’ah Mahmoodiyah (Dar-ul-Uloom, Springs).
Question: Explain the meanings and difference between the concepts thrown around by ISIS propagandists eg: – Darul Tawheed, Darul Aman, Darul Ahad, Darul Kufr and Darul Harb, etc. What laws pertain to Muslims living in each?
Summary of transcript:
The terms Dar-ul-Islam, Dar-ul-Kufr etc. have not been defined in any Qur’aanic aayah or hadith of Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wasallam. There isn’t a single aayah or hadith saying expressedly that the definition of Dar-ul-Islam is . . . and the definition of Dar-ul-Kufr is . . . These terms were derived by the fuqahaa in the light of certain aayaat and ahaadith. That being the case, there is some difference of opinion among the fuqahaa with regards these terms.
Imaam Abu Haneefah (RA) defined Dar-ul-Islam as a country in which Muslims enjoy security while non-Muslims live in fear. Dar-ul-Kufr is the very opposite. It is a country in which non-Muslims enjoy security and Muslims live in fear.Considering current political trends in the world, we could conclude that according to Imaam Abu Haneefah (RA), Dar-ul-Islam is a country that has a Muslim majority and which is run by Muslims even though they do not implement sharee’ah law. However, most fuqahaa disagree with Imaam Abu Haneefah’s definition.
Imaam Abu Haneefah’s most prominent students, Imaam Abu Yusuf (RA) and Imaam Muhammad (RA) define Dar-ul-Islam as a country in which sharee’ah law is implemented. Thus, Darul-Kufr is a country in which laws of the kuffaar are implemented instead of sharee’ah law.
Dar-ul-Harb is the same as Dar-ul-Kufr. However, because Dar-ul-Kufr is most often at war with Dar-ul-Islam, it is also called Dar-ul-Harb. (Harb means war.)
The earlier fuqahaa only spoke of these two types of countries. However, because these definitions are not expressedly mentioned in Qu’aan and Hadith, latter-day fuqahaa added a third type of country based on circumstances that were not prevalent in the time of the earlier fuqahaa. Although latter-day does not mean that they lived in the past hundred or two hundred centuries. Among the earliest fuqahaa who discussed the concept of a third dar viz. Dar-ul-Aman is Imaam Sarakhsi who was probably a fourth generation hanafi scholar of fiqh. Hence, he is latter-day in relation to the early masters of fiqh like Imaam Abu Haneefah (RA) etc. Anyway, the third type of country is Dar-ul-Aman.
Dar-ul-Aman is a non-Muslim country whose government allows Muslims to practice their religion without any fear. The concept of Dar-ul-Aman is based on the condition of Habshah (Abyssinia) and the Sahaabah who lived there during the time of Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
In Dar-ul-Aman, the freedom Muslims enjoy in practising their religion is at government level. Hence, the status of Dar-ul-Aman will not be affected if non-Muslim members of the public attack or persecute Muslims for practising the religion (provided such atrocities are not sanctioned by the government.
Having said that, it follows that most countries in the world presently could be classified as Dar-ul-Aman. Our country, South Africa, is a secular country. It has no official religion, but it guarantees religious freedom for everybody including Muslims and, Al-Hamdulillah, Muslims do practise Islam freely. Hence, South Africa is a Dar-ul-Aman.
Some fuqahaa have discussed a fourth type of country viz. Dar-ul-‘Ahd. Actually, the only fuqahaa to do so were Imaam Abu Haneefah’s student, Imaam Muhammad, and Abul-Hasan Maawardi. Whatever the case may be, Dar-ul-‘Ahd is in essence a type of Dar-ul-Islam. It is a country that was conquered by the Muslims but whose non-Muslim citizens reach an agreement with the Muslim authorities and are thus permitted to continue living there.
There are many laws regarding these different countries. In view of limited time and the context of our discussion, I will suffice with the following:
In Dar-ul-Islam, the life and wealth of every Muslim and dhimmi (non-Muslim citizen of Dar-ul-Islam) is ma’soom (guaranteed safety). Thus, murdering a dhimmi and misappropriating his belongings is impermissible and if any Muslim murders a dhimmi or misappropriates his wealth, there will be consequences. In the instance of murder, there will be qisaas (death penalty) according to the Hanafi madhab. According to other madhaahib, there will be blood money.
If a citizen of Dar-ul-Kufr / Dar-ul-Harb enters Dar-ul-Islam with a visa, his life and belongings will also be guaranteed safety for the duration of his stay in Dar-ul-Islam. (In classical fiqh works, the word “visa” is not used. Instead, they use the word amaan which means protection. Hence, such a non-Muslim traveller is called musta-min.)
Just as the life and wealth of the dhimmi and musta-min in Dar-ul-Islam are guaranteed safety, the life and wealth of non-Muslim citizens of Dar-ul-Aman are also guaranteed safety. The fact that the non-Muslim government allows Muslims to practice the their religion freely is paramount to an agreement between the two parties; the government and the Muslims. Now, Muslims living in such a country have to remember the importance Islam attaches to fulfilment of pledges / agreements. They also have to remember the Qur’aanic injunction هَلْ جَزَاءُ الْإِحْسَانِ إِلَّا الْإِحْسَانُ (The reward of kindness is nothing but kindness.) Thus, Muslims living in Dar-ul-Aman like South Africa reciprocate religious freedom by upholding the safety fellow citizens of the country.
والله أعلم بالصواب
Abu Hudhaifa Muhammed Karolia
Jaami’ah Mahmoodiyah (Dar-ul-Uloom, Springs)
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