We can broadly distinguish here three different—though not completely contradictory—positions that are the expression of three specific legal opinions on this question. Some ulama consider that the old concepts of dar al-islam and dar al-harb are still valid, even if all the relevant conditions are not completely met. Other ulama are of the opinion that the considerable changes that have taken place must be taken into account and that the conditions (shurut) referred to earlier that would allow an area to be defined as dar al-islam or dar al-harb today do not occur in the same way in one place as in another. In their view, these elements should be underlined when the situation of Muslims in the West is discussed. In order to define Western countries, they use the Shafii concept of dar al-ahd (“abode of treaty”) or dar al-amn (“abode of safety”). The third group believe these concepts are no longer valid: to continue to use them forces us to avoid questions about both the concepts and the reality we are facing. They think that the ulama should think of new appellations that are faithful to the Islamic sources and also appropriate for our current situation. Faysal al-Mawlawi, for example, states: “We are not, in the West, in the ‘abode of war’; we are either in an ‘abode of treaty’ or in an ‘abode of invitation to God’ [dawa]. If we wish to maintain the [traditional] classification of the world as set out in fiqh with the ‘abode of Islam,’ the ‘abode of war’ and the ‘abode of treaty,’ we are in that case, in the West, in an ‘abode of treaty.’ If, on the other hand, we consider that the old fiqh classification is no longer applicable in our current situation—and this is the view we prefer—then on that basis, we say that we are in an ‘abode of dawa,’ as were the Prophet and the Muslims in Mecca before the Hijra. Mecca was neither dar al-islam nor dar al-harb, but dar al-dawa and in the eyes of the Muslims, the whole of the Arabian Peninsula, was dar aldawa.”
It is important to note here a double phenomenon: first, the traditional appellations are discussed—and almost set aside—and a new name is suggested in the light of the source (the Meccan period) that corresponds more with our own reality in numerous points. This last approach (formulating a new appellation) is, in our opinion, following our analysis, the most correct and relevant. If the “abode” where Muslims live provides them with security—as we must honestly recognize is the case in the West—this must be taken into account. And, beyond all sectarian and inadequate classifications, Muslims should also remember, in this age of globalization and the “new world order,” that they must face up to their responsibilities in order on the one hand to bear authentic witness to their faith in the oneness of God and their respect for the values of justice and solidarity and on the other hand to take appropriate action, whether individually or as a society. Indeed, wherever a Muslim who declares, “I bear witness that there is no god but God and Muhammad is His messenger” lives in security and can fulfil his fundamental religious obligations, he is at home, for the Prophet taught us that the whole world is a mosque. This means that Muslims living in the West, individuals as well as communities from various countries, not only may live there but are also the bearers of an enormous responsibility: they must give their society a testimony based on faith, spirituality, values, a sense of where boundaries lie, and a permanent human and social engagement.
This vision reverses the perception based on the old concepts, which inevitably encouraged Muslims to adopt a reactionary stance as a minority and consequently led them to decide on, and work only to protect, their minimal rights. Even if this attitude was understandable during the first decades of the Muslim presence in the West and among the first generations of migrants, it should now have been superseded. It is high time to define the responsibilities of Muslims in the West, and first, with the insight provided by these considerations, we should be able to call the place where we live the “Western abode.”
Al-Mawlawi proposed the concept of dar al-dawa with reference to the Meccan period during which the Muslims, although a minority in a society that rejected the new Revelation (which he called dar al-kufr), considered themselves responsible for bearing witness to their faith before their people and their tribe. In the same way, we could say that, in the present new world order, which seems to have forgotten the Creator and to depend on a logic that is almost exclusively economic, Muslims face the same responsibilities, particularly in industrialized societies. Positive and sure of themselves, they must remind the people around them of God and spirituality, and when it comes to social issues, they must be actively involved in supporting values and morality, justice and solidarity. They should not submit to their environment, but, on the contrary, once their position is secure, they should be a positive influence within it.
From within the West, it seems essential to clarify this perspective, for the concept of dawa, although vital, has many shades of meaning and so is difficult to translate. Beginning with the same approach of rereading the sources in a manner faithful to their intention, but also in light of the universal message and teachings of Islam (alamiyyat al-islam), we might fairly, I believe, consider the notion of shahada (testimony) insofar as it takes two important forms. The first goes back to the shahada that every Muslim, in order to be recognized as such, must pronounce before God and the whole of humankind, and by which he establishes his identity: “there is no god but God and Muhammad is His messenger.” The second is connected with the responsibility of Muslims, according to the Qur’anic injunction, to “bear witness [to their faith] before humankind.” In the idea of shahada, testimony, we bring together essential elements of the Muslim faith: a clear remembrance of the fundamental core of our identity via faith in the oneness of God (tawhid) and His last revelation to the Prophet Muhammad and an elevated consciousness that gives us the responsibility to remindothers of the presence of God and to act in such a way that our presence among them and with them is, in itself, a reminder of the Creator, spirituality, and ethics.
