How does Muslim Political thinkers divide the world into 3 categories?

Political thinkers of Islam consider the world to be divided into three categories; the Muslim countries, the non Muslim countries that are in peace with the Muslim countries and the non Muslim countries that are at war with the Muslim countries. The first category is the Muslim countries that have brotherly relations because they are Muslims, this is what the political thinkers call Dar-ul-Islam.

The second category is the countries that are non Muslim but they are in peace with the Muslim countries because they have some kind of treaty relations with the Muslim countries, this is the category which the political thinkers call Dar-ul-Sulh. The third category which the political thinkers call Dar-ul-Harb is of non Muslim countries that are not in peace with the Muslim countries as they do not have any treaty relations with the Muslim countries. The relation with this third category is depicted by their attitude for the Muslim countries and the Muslims that reside there as minorities.

A person who wants to learn Muslim culture and who wants to learn Muslim language can learn from a Muslim academy. The Qur’an need to be learned to get the detail knowledge of the religion of Islam and the Arabic language is the language in which Qur’an is written. So one needs to learn Arabic language so that he can learn Islam, when one learns Arabic and studies the Qur’an he can read that a classification similar to what these political thinkers have done is present in the Qur’an. In the chapter 4, verse 92 three types of regions have been mentioned; Muslim region, allied region and the hostile region.

Relations with the Muslim countries are brotherly because all Muslims no matter where they live and how they look are brothers and come under one community. They are bound in the brotherhood of Islam. There are no distinctions on the basis of race, language, nationality or color. Hence people of all the Muslim countries are equal in obligations and rights.

The relations with the non Muslim allied countries are administered according to the terms and conditions of the treaty between the countries. The Muslim countries will fulfill the conditions set between the countries according to the treaty at all costs. The obligations regarding the treaty are honored by the Muslim countries but if the allied countries are violating the treaty then the Muslim countries can put an end to the treaty by giving a warning to the allied country before overthrowing the treaty.

Relationship between the Muslim countries and the non Muslim hostile countries are also in peace as Islam preaches peace. If the non Muslim country with which the Muslim country has no treaty has a peaceful attitude towards the Muslims then they do not need to feel uneasy as Islam promotes fraternity and brotherhood. The Muslim countries show friendship towards all the countries and does not keep any malice with anyone unless the situation is aggravated by the non Muslim countries.

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