Citizenship: an Islamic perspective

Citizenship in its contemporary context has developed in tandem with the expansive role and functions of the nation state. The Islamic notions of belonging to a political community, territory, and a system of rule are all present in the source data of the Qurʾan and hadith. Yet they remain undeveloped and also burdened with accretional jurisprudence that has developed around the notions of dār al‐Islām and dār al‐ḥarb (abode of Islam, and abode of war respectively). The main purpose of this essay is to contextualise the Islamic notion of citizenship with its contemporary context, while also attempting to strip the authoritative guidelines of Islam from its archaic concepts and additions that on the whole tend to be less than helpful. This is one side of the picture I present. In another, yet quite fundamental sense, the rules of fiqh on residence and domicile within the wider dār al‐Islām are far less restrictive than the Immigration and citizenship laws of the present‐day Muslim countries.