Kafir
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- This article is about an Islamic term. For other uses of the word, see Kaffir (disambiguation).
Kafir (Arabic: كافر kāfir; plural كفّار kuffār) is an Arabic word meaning an unbeliever, a person who hides, denies, or covers the truth. In cultural terms, it is a derogatory term [3] used to describe an unbeliever, non-Muslims, a Muslim of a differing sect, or an apostate from Islam. It is usually translated into English as "infidel" or "unbeliever".
Debate exists between some Muslim scholars as to whether the term applies to Jews and Christians, as these can also be regarded as Dhimmi, or People of the Book. It has been used historically to identify Hindus, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, and followers of non-denominational religions or local, pagan traditions. Some distinguish between Kafir and non-Muslims, as Kafir is used by the Qur'an for people, who were guilty of rejection or non-acceptance of the truth, even after it has become fully apparent to them, while non-Muslim is primarily a term implying a person, who does not ascribe to the Islamic faith.[1]
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[edit] Etymology
The word kaafir is the active participle of the Arabic verb kafara which means "to cover" (from consonantal root K-F-R). As a pre-Islamic term it described farmers burying seeds in the ground, covering them with soil while planting. Thus, the word kaafir implies the meaning "a person who hides or covers the truth". In Islamic parlance, kafir is a word used to describe a person who rejects Islamic faith.[4].
[edit] Qur'anic references
The word kafir (and related words, such as the abstract noun kufr "disbelief") is mentioned in the Qur’an in five different senses:
1. Kufr al-tawheed: to reject the belief in the Oneness of God. The Qur’an says:
- As to those who reject faith (kafaru), it is the same to them whether you warn them or do not warn them; they will not believe (2:6; Yusuf Ali)
2. Kufr al-ni`mah: to lack gratefulness to God or to people. The Qur’an says:
- Therefore remember Me, I will remember you, and be thankful to Me, and do not be ungrateful to Me. (la takfurun)(2:152; Shakir)
- (Pharaoh) said (to Moses): … And you did (that) deed of yours which you did, and you are one of the ungrateful (kafireen)(26:18-19; Shakir)
3. Kufr at-tabarri: to disown/clear oneself from. The Qur’an says:
- Indeed, there is for you a good example in Ibrahim and those with him when they said to their people: “Surely we are clear of you (kafarna bekom).” (60:4; Shakir)
4. Kufr al-juhud: to deny. The Qur’an says:
- When there comes to them that which they [should] have recognized, they refuse to believe in (kafaru) it.(2:89; Yusuf Ali)
5. Kufr at-taghtiyah: to hide/bury something, like planting a seed in the ground. The Qur’an says:
- The likeness of vegetation after rain, whereof the growth is pleasing to the husbandman (kuffar.) (57:20; Pickthall)
The word kufr can also be applied to a Muslim when he is doing something wrong, but not necessarily something that would place him or her outside the state of belief in Islam. For example, a Muslim who is able to perform the Hajj but does not go, without denying the need to go, would be committing an act of kufr in a sense of ungratefulness to God.
- Verily, the first House (of worship) appointed for mankind was that at Bakkah (Makkah), full of blessing, and a guidance for Al-'Alamîn (the mankind and jinns). In it are manifest signs (for example), the Maqâm (place) of Abraham (Arabic:Ibrâhim) ; whosoever enters it, he attains security. And Hajj (pilgrimage to Makkah) to the House (Ka'bah) is a duty that mankind owes to God (Arabic:Allah), those who can afford the expenses (for one's conveyance, provision and residence); and whoever disbelieves(wa man kafara) [i.e. denies Hajj (pilgrimage to Makkah), then he is a disbeliever of God], then God stands not in need of any of the 'Alamîn (mankind and jinns)(3:96-97).
In the Qur’an, the word “O disbelievers” (“Ya Kuffar”, “Ya ayuhalathina kafaru”, or “Ya ayuhal-kafirun”) is found only in these two places:
1. In Hellfire, we seek refuge in God from it. The Qur’an says what means:
- [Then it will be said]: “O ye who disbelieve (Ya ayuhalathina kafaru)! Make no excuses for yourselves this day. (66:7)
So, it is something that is said to them by God Almighty or by the angels, not by us.
2. In Surat Al-Kafirun (109) that you mentioned in your question. It says what means:
- {Say [O Muhammad]: “O ye that reject faith (al-Kafirun)! I worship not that which ye worship, Nor will ye worship that which I worship.”}
This surah is addressing Prophet Muhammad and therefore must be understood in its historical context. God is asking Prophet Muhammad to address a group of leaders from Mecca who offered him the following deal: That they all — including Muhammad — worship God for one year and then they all worship the idols for the next year, and so on. That is why God asked him to address them in this term “rejecters of faith” and to refuse to accept this kind of deal.
In the rest of the Qur’an, the Qur’anic style follows two principles:
1. To label certain sayings or actions to be sayings or actions of kufr (disbelief or rejection of faith), without labeling any specific group of people with that name and calling them with it. For example, the Qur’an says what means:
- Certainly they disbelieve who say: Surely God is the third [person] of the three. And there is no god but One God, and if they desist not from what they say, a painful chastisement shall befall those among them who disbelieve [reject]. Will they not then turn to God and ask His forgiveness? And God is Forgiving, Merciful. The Messiah, son of Mary is but a messenger; messengers before him have indeed passed away; and his mother was a truthful woman.(5:73-75)
2. To distinguish clearly between idol-worshippers, on one hand, and believers in God and a Script that went through a phase of corruption, on the other hand. God called the later group only by the name “People of the Book.” For example, the Qur’an says what means:
- Quite a number of the People of the Book wish they could turn you [people] back to infidelity after ye have believed, from selfish envy, after the truth hath become manifest unto them. But, forgive and overlook, till Allah accomplish His purpose; for God Hath power over all things.(2:109)
- It is He Who got out the Unbelievers among the People of the Book from their homes at the first gathering [of the forces]. Little did ye think that they would get out: And they thought that their fortresses would defend them from God! But the [wrath of] God came to them from quarters from which they little expected [it], and cast terror into their hearts, so that they destroyed their dwellings by their own hands and the hands of the Believers, take warning, then, O ye with eyes [to see](59:2)
In today’s world, scholars recommend that Muslims should use the same term “People of the Book” with Christians and Jews, or call them Christians and Jews, if they wish to be called so, or simply call them “non-Muslims”.
[edit] According to scholars
According to some Islamic scholars, People of the Book — that is to say Christians, Jews (including Samaritans) and "Sabians" — are not kafir because they are considered recipients of divine revelation from God. However, other scholars, such as those backing militant Islamists, often do not make the distinction in their rhetoric and use the term kafir to include these religious communities. [citation needed]
Ibn Taymiyah says
- Not believing in God and His Messenger, whether that is accompanied by denial or it is not accompanied by denial but rather doubt, or turning away from faith out of jealousy or arrogance, or because one is following whims and desires that prevent one from following the message. So kufr is the attribute of everyone who rejects something that God has commanded us to believe in, after news of that has reached him, whether he rejects it in his heart without uttering it, or he speaks those words of rejection without believing it in his heart, or he does both; or he does an action which is described in the texts as putting one beyond the pale of faith.
Ibn Hazam said in his book al-Fasl:
- Rejecting something for which there is sound proof that there can be no faith without believing in it is kufr, and uttering words for which there is proof that uttering them is kufr. Doing any action for which there is proof that it is kufr is also kufr.
[edit] Acts that invalidate Islam
"Verily, God forgives not (the sin of) setting up partners in worship with Him, but He forgives whom He pleases other sins than that" (al-Nisa 116).
"Say: Was it God, or His signs or His Messenger that you were mocking? Make no excuse, you have disbelieved after you had believed." (al-Tauba 65-66).
"And who does more wrong than he who is reminded of the signs of his Lord, then he turns aside therefrom? Verily, We shall exact retribution from the sinners"
The Kafiroon are not to be confused with the munafiq. The munafiq are Muslim hypocrites.
[edit] Muslim relations with the Kafir
For dealing with non-Muslims, the general rule is mentioned in the verse that says what means:
- God does not forbid you respecting those who have not made war against you on account of [your] religion, and have not driven you forth from your homes, that you show them kindness (birr) and deal with them justly; surely God loves the doers of justice. God only forbids you respecting those who made war upon you on account of [your] religion, and drove you forth from your homes and backed up [others] in your expulsion, that you make friends with them, and whoever makes friends with them, these are the unjust. (60:8-9)
Birr in this context is likened to birr al-walidain, the kindness that a Muslim should show to his or her parents.[2]
Some Muslims believe that making friends with the Kafir is prohibited in Islam. Others consider the directive in Qur'an only for those Christians and Jews who were direct addressees of Qur'an or in war when there is a danger of transmission of secrets.[3] As in Qur'an:
- O ye who believe! take not the Jews and the Christians for your friends and protectors: They are but friends and protectors to each other. And he amongst you that turns to them (for friendship) is of them. Verily God guideth not a people unjust. 5:51
Shi'a jurists have traditionally deemed non-Muslims to be ritually impure (najis) so that physical contact with them or things they touched would require Shi'as to wash themselves before doing regular prayers. It is recommended to avoid them.[4][5][6]
[edit] Use outside Islam
By the 15th century, the word kafir/kuffar was used by Muslims in Africa to refer to the non-Muslim African natives. Many of those kuffar, were enslaved and sold by their Muslims captors to European and Asian merchants, mainly from Portugal, who by that time had established trading outposts along the coast of West Africa. These European slave traders adopted that Arabic word to refer to their captives, and eventually changed it into many forms — cafre (in Portuguese and Spanish), caffar, kaffer, kaffir, kafir, etc. (in English, Dutch, and Afrikaans); see South Africa Kaffir people. Those words were then used to name many things related to Africa, such as the Kaffir Wars, Kaffraria, kaffir lime, kaffir corn, and so on; see kaffir (disambiguation). It is now illegal to use the term "kaffir" in South Africa.
Some of those African slaves were taken by the Portuguese to work in their colonies in Asia. In some cities of Sri Lanka, in particular, the descendants of those slaves still constitute a distinctive ethnic group, who call themselves Kaffir.
In South Africa the word kaffir eventually became a racial slur, applied pejoratively or offensively by some whites to African blacks or to dark-skinned persons in general. In Jamaica it is applied by some Jamaicans of Indian ancestry to Jamaicans of African ancestry. See kaffir (ethnic slur).
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ Moiz Amjad, Non-Muslims & Kaafirs, Understanding-Islam.com, Al-Mawrid.[1]
- ^ IslamOnline, Jasser Auda
- ^ Moiz Amjad, Relations with non-Muslims, Understanding-Islam.com, Al-Mawrid.[2]
- ^ Entry on the website of Grand Ayatollah Fazel Lankarani
- ^ Entry on the website of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani
- ^ Bernard Lewis The Jews of Islam, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1984, ISBN 0-691-00807-8, pp. 33–34
[edit] External links
- Defining the Kafirs (Infidels), islamonline.net
- People unaware of Islam
- Ahl al-Fatrah
- Takfir - Anathematizing
- Universal Validity of Religions and the Issue of Takfir
- Polytheists in the Qur’an
- Judge people or convey message
- Islamic Dealing with People of the Book
- Inminds.co.uk
- Muslim and Non-Muslim Relations Reflections on Some Qur’anic Texts
- Who is a Kaafir?
- Hermeneutics of takfir
