The terms Darul Islam, Darul Harb, and Darul Kufr do not occur in the Quran or Hadith. There were invented for the first time by Muslim jurists, during the Abbasid period. According to this terminology, the world was divided into two large regions. The part of the world, ruled by Muslims, was called by the Muslims Darul Islam. The rest of the world ruled by others was called by Muslims Darul Kufr or Darul Harb (the land of kafirs or the land of war). For the Muslims, there were, therefore, these two distinct spheres of influence: the land of Islam, which meant the land where Muslims had full freedom to practice their religion, and the land of war, which meant a place where Muslims had no such freedom. The land of war indicated those areas of the world where Muslims found themselves in unfavourable circumstances and war was imminent at any point in time. The jihad of present-day Muslims is, in fact, a legacy of this early, potentially unstable situation.

According to this division spelled out in Islamic law (fiqh), Muslims have come to feel, consciously or unconsciously, that in those countries where Muslims are not in a position of power, they are always in danger; and that a war with non-Muslims could be in the offing at any given time. According to this division, Darul Harb (lit. territory of war) was, in fact the Darul A’da (the land of the enemies). That is why the idea took root in the minds of the Muslims that those potential enemies should be fought and subjugated so that they were no longer a threat to them.

Muslim thinking continued along these lines over a period of a thousand years. In present times, Muslims have had certain bitter experiences at the hands of other nations. This has caused them to think that their enemies have rallied and united against them. This idea has come to be so firmly entrenched in the Muslim psyche that a certain section of Muslims have started an armed jihad on the grounds that all nations other than Muslim nations are the enemies of Islam.

This whole problem has nothing to do with the tenets of Islam. In fact, Islam is a universal religion revived by the Prophet of mercy for mankind (The Quran, 21:107). Rather it is the creation of early Muslim jurists.  If, in ancient times, Muslims had to practice their religion in defiance of, or under the dire threat of religious coercion, they now had ample opportunities to follow their religion in an atmosphere of complete religious freedom. That is to say, what had formerly been possible only in Darul Islam, now became equally possible in Darul Harb and Darul Kufr. This denotes a sea-change in present-day circumstances, which calls for a revision of the terms of the Abbasid period in order to bring them in line with the latest developments.

Now, with the altered situation, the whole world, in terms of religious freedom, is Darul Islam. Those circumstances no longer exist which necessitated the world being divided into three separate categories. After the establishment of religious freedom on a global scale, the entire world has become one, and now only one phrase Darul Amn (the abode of peace) or Darul Insaan (the abode of human beings) may properly be applied to it.

Source: The Prophet of Peace