East meets the West: Fiqh al-Aqalliyat (Muslim jurisprudence on minorities); Dina de-Malchuta Dina (the law of the kingdom is the law); Dar al-Islam (abode of Islam); Dar al-Harb (abode of war)

Abstract

For 2000 years Jews have lived in exile as viable Jewish minority communities by recognizing the “law of the kingdom” (Dina de Malchuta) as their law alongside a system of rabbinic rulings (Responsa) whenever the demands of Jewish law (Halachah) and state laws contradict one another. Historically Muslims, however, have rarely experienced life among non-Muslims until relatively recently. Only since the post-World War II period have Muslims voluntarily chosen to leave the Dar al-Islam (the Abode of Islam) and live in the West or Dar al-Harb (the Abode of War) for economic, political and educational reasons. Mass migration has caused Muslim philosophers and theologians both in Muslim lands and abroad to adapt Sharia law to the new reality – Fiqh al-Aqalliyyat (the jurisprudence on minorities). The need to preserve the rules of the Muslim religion and to protect the unity of the Muslim nation (ummah) are critical given that one third of Muslims presently live as minorities in non-Muslim countries. Jewish legal precedents elaborated in this chapter point to similarities but also to differences between Jews and Muslims who encounter life as minorities within a Christian majority.