Przemiany islamskich koncepcji terytorium: od klasycznego pragmatyzmu do instrumentalizacji w islamizmie
Transformations of Islamic Concepts of Territory: From Classical Pragmatism to Instrumentalization in Islamism

Summary/Abstract: Islamic territorial concepts — such as dar al-islam, dar al-ḥarb, and intermediate categories dar al-ṣulḥ and dar al-ʿahd– have for centuries structured frameworks for understanding relations between the Muslim community and the external world. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate how classical constructions, originally pragmatic and flexible, have been transformed by radical groups’ doctrines into dogmatic and mobilizational instruments. The analysis is conducted from a constructivist perspective, employing comparative methodology and content analysis of both classical sources and doctrinal sources of radical Islamism. Throughout the research, five mechanisms of meaning transformation have been identified: retroactive legitimization, selective amplification, universalization of particularity, binarization of reality, and sacralization of politics. These mechanisms illustrate how processes of social creation and subsequent instrumentalization of meanings lead to the transformation of former legal categories into tools of contemporary political practice. Case studies– ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Taliban, and Boko Haram – demonstrate that although these groups appeal to a common language of tradition, their practices correspond to distinct “politico-theological cartographies”. The conclusions indicate that the flexibility and pragmatism of classical doctrine clash with the dogmatic inflexibility of contemporary actors, which facilitates delegitimization of the Westphalian order and strengthens the capacity of non-state actors to under-mine borders, sovereignty, and stability of the international system.

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