Chapter Fourteen

term, it can be just one: and that is, dar ud-dawah or ‘Abode of Invitation to accept the Faith’. This is what is in accordance with the spirit of Islam. Islam regards all people as mad‘us, or people who are to be invited to accept the faith, irrespective of whether their relations with the followers of Islam are peaceful or not. Hence, in accordance with the authentic understanding of Islam, only two terms are proper with regard to the issue being discussed here. One is dar ul-islam (‘Abode of Islam), and the other is dar ud-dawah. Other than these, all other terms that are used in the fiqh tradition to categorise territories (such as dar ul-harb, dar ul-kufr [‘Abode of Infidelity’], dar ut-taghut [‘Abode of Falsehood’], etc.) represent, in my view, errors of ijtihad. The Concept of Jihad As a result of wrong interpretation by some Muslims, jihad has come to be understood as war engaged in to ‘reform’ others (or what is called in Urdu muslihana jang). Such people say that Muslims are God’s khalifas, or deputies on earth, and that it is the responsibility of Muslims as God’s deputies to establish the rule of God in the world. They think they are charged with the God-given task of making people obey God’s commandments. They call this war jihad. This understanding of jihad is undoubtedly without any basis. It has nothing to do with the Quran, the Hadith, and the Prophet’s practice. A ‘reformist war’ , from the point of view of its consequences, promotes nothing but fasad or corruption and strife. In society, everyone has the right to peacefully express his or her views, but the idea that one can use physical force to ‘reform’ others is simply unacceptable when it comes to relations between communities and countries. In any particular society, and also at the inter-community and international levels, no group of people can arrogate to itself a right that it is not willing to let others also