What does Dar al-Harb mean?

Answer 1

Islam historically (and more extreme elements currently) divided the world into three general categories: Dar al-Islam (دار الأسلام), Dar al-Harb (دار الحرب), and Dar al-Ahed (دار العهد). These categories are literally translated as: the House of Islam, the House of War, and the House of Covenant.

Dar al-Islam refers to those countries and lands where Islam is the religion in political power and the people follow Islamic Law. However, in most cases, it is presumed that if Islam is the religion with political power then people are following Islamic Law, even in the case of countries like Azerbaijan where the laws are ardently secular, but Muslims are in power.

Dar al-Harb refers to those countries that are not governed by Islamic Law and are either actively or passively fighting against Islam. Europe, the United States, and Israel are most often the regions referred to today with this term. The term derives from the idea that the failure to govern by Islamic Law and/or wars between the Non-Islamic States and Muslims or between Non-Islamic States and Islamic States can serve as a causus belli for conquest. Most modern Muslims reject this notion and believe that all people have the right to determine whether or not they want to have an Islamic Government and conquest is unacceptable. Extremists, especially in Transnational Islamist Organizations like al-Qaeda, vehemently disagree with this modern softening and hold that countries that qualify as Dar al-Harb should be laid low and conquered by Muslims.

Dar al-Ahed is a minority category that refers to any Non-Islamic country that is a vassal to or in alignment with Islamic countries. (An historic example would be Wallachia, which was a Christian Kingdom in vassalship to the Ottoman Empire, an Islamic Empire.)