Today is our Focus: THE QURAN TALKS OF ONE DOMINION OF GOD
THE QURAN TALKS OF ONE DOMINION OF GOD
The casuistic debate over Muslim jurisprudential terms like Darul Islam (Abode of Islam), Darul Harb (Abode of War) and Darul Aman (Abode of Peace) regarding which of these terms is applicable to India, has generated more heat than light in newspaper columns.
It is true that these terms were coined by Muslim jurists during the Abbasi period and became part of the text of Muslim law, but they find no sanction either in the Quran or the Prophetic traditions. On the contrary, the Quran asserts that in God’s dispensation all mankind are one people and the whole earth is their shared dwelling place.
The Quran holds that ‘Unto Allah belong all things in the heavens and on earth and enough is Allah to carry through all affairs (4.132). The position that the whole world-regardless of the fact that different parts of it are controlled by different groups of people-ultimately constitutes ‘one dominion of God’ is asserted in more than 35 verses of the Quran.
A Prophetic tradition holding that ‘the whole earth has been made a masjid (place of worship) and a tahoor (source of purification in the event of non-availability of water), therefore anyone of my followers can pray wherever the time of a prayer is due further highlights the sanctity of the whole world as a place of worship and source of purification.
In fact, the Quran does not view certain parts of the world as abodes of belief or disbelief, but considers the whole of worldly life as consisting of tests and trials of the endowments that each and every individual has been blessed with. Since each individual has been endowed differently. his or her test is not the same, but relates to what one possesses. The Quran categorically declares:
To each among you have We prescribed a Law and an Open Way. If Allah had so willed He would have made you a single people but (His plan is) to test you in what He has given you: so compete as in a race in all virtues. The goal of you all is to Allah; it is He that will show you the truth of the matters in which you dispute (5.48) In another verse, the Quran says, ‘It is He who has made you (His) agents inheritors of the earth: He has raised you in ranks some above others: that he may try you in the gifts He has given you (6.165).
It is clear from these verses that the diversity of belief and its various expressions in no way defy the divine will and purpose. Instead, the Quran says, ‘For every people there is a direction to which they face (in their prayers). So hasten towards all that is good (2 148)
The concepts of abodes of Belief, Disbelief, etc., are essentially rooted in human arrogance where a group of people view themselves as the ‘chosen people of God’ and assume the role of enforcing what they perceive to be the Will of God. This attitude itself is repugnant to the Quran which makes a categorical declaration that ‘If it had been the Lord’s Will they would all have believed all who are on earth! Will you then compel mankind against their will to believe?” (10.99)
The Quran does not divide worldly life into Darul Islam or Darul Kufr. Yes, it can be described as Darul Ibtila (Abode of Trial) as the Quran says that ‘He Who created Death and Life, that He may try which of you is best in deed (672)’.
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