 World peace, the final stage of the Holy Call [to convert to Islam], is reached only with the conversion or submission of all mankind to Islam…Muslims believe that expansion through war is not aggression but a fulfillment of the Koranic command to spread Islam as a way to peace. The resort to force to disseminate Islam is not "war," a word that is used only to describe the use of force by non-Muslims. Islamic wars are not "wars" but rather acts of "opening" the world to Islam and expressing Islamic jihad. Relations between Dar al-Islam, the home of peace, and Dar al-Harb, the world of unbelievers, nevertheless take place in a state of war, according to the Koran and to the authoritative commentaries of Islamic jurists. Unbelievers who stand in the way, creating obstacles for the Holy Call, are blamed for this state of war, for the Holy Call can be pursued peacefully if others submit to it. In other words, those who resist Islam cause wars and are responsible for them. 
Bassam Tibi
Prominent Muslim scholar, author of nine books, currently a professor at Cornell University, 1996
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