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 literally meaning "ingrate". In the Islamic doctrinal sense the term refer to a person who does not recognize Allah or the finality of the prophethood of Muhammad and hides, denies, or covers the truth. In cultural terms, it is a derogatory term^[1] used to describe an unbeliever, non-Muslims, apostate from Islam and even Musims from different sects. It is usually translated into English as "infidel" or "unbeliever." There is also a collection of Hadith called Sahih Muslim A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم, Persian: Mosalman or Mosalmon Urdu: مسلمان, Turkish: Müslüman, Albanian: Mysliman, Bosnian: Musliman) is an adherent of the religion of Islam. ... Mumin is an Arabic Islamic term, frequently referenced in the Quran, meaning beliver and denotes a Muslim that has complete submission to the will of God (Allah), and has faith firmly established in his heart. ... Faith has two general implications which can be implied either exclusively or mutually; To Trust: Believing a certain variable will act a specific way despite the potential influence of known or unknown change. ... A term in Islam. ... harām (Arabic: حرام Ḥarām, Turkish: Haram, Malay: Haram) is an Arabic word, used in Islam to refer to anything that is prohibited by the faith. ... In Islamic context, a Fajir (فاجر) (pl. ... Munafiq is a term in Islam used to describe a hypocrite, who while outwardly practicing the forms of Islam, inwardly conceals (perhaps even unknowingly) kufr; considered worse than a kafir. ... Hypocrisy is the act of pretending to have beliefs, virtues and feelings that one does not truly possess. ... The term People of the Book (Hebrew עם הספר, Am HaSefer) is used in Judaism where it refers specifically to the Jewish people and the Torah. ... In Islamic theology, the term Ahl al-Fatrah () refers to everyone whom the dawah (message of Islam) has not reached in an uncorrupted manner, i. ... Deen (دين) is an Arabic word usually explained as way of life or complete code of life. It is not exclusive to Islam, as it also used by Arab Christians. ... The words kaffir, kafir, and variations thereof may mean: kafir, kaffir, kafr, kufr, an Islamic religious term usually rendered into English as infidel: see kafir (Islam) The Hindukush Kafir people, peoples of the historic Kafirstan, now the Nuris of Nuristan. ... Arabic ( or just ) is the largest living member of the Semitic language family in terms of speakers. ... For people named Islam, see Islam (name). ... Allah is the Arabic language word for God. ... Muhammad in a new genre of Islamic calligraphy started in the 17th century by Hafiz Osman. ... Apostasy in Islam (Arabic: ارتداد, irtidād or ridda) is commonly defined as the rejection of Islam in word or deed by a person who has been a Muslim. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... An infidel (literally, one without faith) is one who doubts or rejects central tenets of a religion, especially those regarding its deities. ...

The islamic law (sharia) distinguishes three types of kafirs: Sharia (Arabic: transliteration: ) is the body of Islamic law. ...

1. kafir dhimmi
2. kafir harbi
3. kafir musta'min

Debate exists between some Muslim scholars as to whether the term applies to Jews and Christians, and later Zoroastrians, as these can also be regarded as Ahl-ul Kittab, People of the Book or Dhimmi ("protected people"). "Kafir" has been used historically to identify Hindus, Buddhists, 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 what it says is the truth, even after it has supposedly become fully apparent to them, while non-Muslim is primarily a term implying a person who does not ascribe to the Islamic faith.^[2] This article is about dhimmi in the context of Islamic law. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Zoroastrianism was adapted from an earlier, polytheistic faith by Zarathushtra (Zoroaster) in Persia very roughly around 1000 BC (although, in the absence of written records, some scholars estimates are as late as 600 BC). ... The term People of the Book (Hebrew עם הספר, Am HaSefer) is used in Judaism where it refers specifically to the Jewish people and the Torah. ... This article is about dhimmi in the context of Islamic law. ... This article is about the Hindu religion; for other meanings of the word, see Hindu (disambiguation). ... Statues of Buddha such as this, the Tian Tan Buddha statue in Hong Kong, remind followers to practice right living. ...

Etymology

The word kāfir is the active participle of the root K-F-R "to cover". As a pre-Islamic term it described farmers burying seeds in the ground, covering them with soil while planting. Thus, the word kāfir implies the meaning "a person who hides or covers". In Islamic parlance, a kāfir is a word used to describe a person who rejects Islamic faith, i.e. "hides or covers [viz., the truth]".^[3] In the terminology used to discuss the grammar of the Semitic and some other Afro-Asiatic languages, a triliteral (Arabic: جذر ثلاثي, ǧaḏr thalathi) is a root containing a sequence of three consonants (so also known as a triconsonantal root). ... (Ùƒ ف ر) is the triconsonantal root of many Arabic words, and many of those words are used as names. ...

Qur'anic references

The word kāfir (and related words, such as the abstract noun kufr "disbelief") is mentioned in the Qur’an in five different senses: The Quran (Arabic: al-qurān literally the recitation; also called Al Qurān Al KarÄ«m or The Noble Quran; or transliterated Quran, Koran, and less commonly Alcoran) is the holy book of Islam. ...

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 (^{[Qur'an 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)(^{[Qur'an 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)(^{[Qur'an 26:18]}; 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).” (^{[Qur'an 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.(^{[Qur'an 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.) (^{[Qur'an 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. This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Abdullah Yusuf Ali (1872-1952) was born in Bombay, India, to a wealthy merchant family. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Mohammad Habib Shakir, born Cairo 1866, died Cairo 1939, translated the Quran into English. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Mohammad Habib Shakir, born Cairo 1866, died Cairo 1939, translated the Quran into English. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Mohammad Habib Shakir, born Cairo 1866, died Cairo 1939, translated the Quran into English. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Abdullah Yusuf Ali (1872-1952) was born in Bombay, India, to a wealthy merchant family. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... (Mohammed) Marmaduke William Pickthall, (1875–May 19, 1936), a Western Islamic scholar, noted as a poetic and accurate translator of the Quran into English. ... The Hajj (Arabic: , transliteration: ) is the Pilgrimage to Mecca in Islam. ...

• 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)(^{[Qur'an 3:96]}).

In the Qur'an the phrase "O disbelievers" (yā kuffār, 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.'" (^{[Qur'an 66:7]})
2. In Surat Al-Kafirun (109):
   • "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.'"

In the rest of the Qur'an, the Qur'anic style follows two principles: This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ...

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.(^{[Qur'an 5:73]})
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.(^{[Qur'an 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](^{[Qur'an 59:2]})

In today's world, scholars recommend^{[citation needed]} 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". This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ...

According to scholars

Some scholars say People of the Book — that is to say Christians, Jews (including Samaritans) and "Sabians" — are kafir (infidels) because even if they are considered recipients of divine revelation from God, the Qur'an literally stamps them with the term Al-Ladheena Kafaru (those who cover)/ Walaqad Kaffara (Surely they have become kafirs). The term People of the Book (Hebrew עם הספר, Am HaSefer) is used in Judaism where it refers specifically to the Jewish people and the Torah. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      A Christian () is a person who... For other senses of this word, see Samaritan (disambiguation). ... Not to be confused with Sabaeans, who were ancient people living in what is now Yemen. ...

However, this is generally the more extreme view, and while Muslims do view the People of the Book as having altered their religions, most reserve the term "kafir" for polytheists, atheists, and those who consciously live in spite of God. Hence, the People of the Book, as worshippers of God are not "kufar" in the sense it is most often used. Furthermore, most Muslims would argue that God would not allow marriage between Muslim men and Christian/Jewish women if they were on the same level as those previously mentioned.

Ibn Taymiyah says: Abu al-Abbas Taqi al-Din Ahmad ibn Abd al-Salaam ibn Abdullah ibn Taymiya al-Harrani, was a jurist, reformer, preacher, scholar, exegete of Islam. ...

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: Ibn Hazm (7 November 994 – 15 August 1064[1] 456 AH[2]) in full AbÅ« Muḥammad Ê¿AlÄ« ibn Aḥmad ibn SaÊ¿Ä«d ibn Ḥazm (Arabic :أبو محمد علي بن احمد بن سعيد بن حزم) - sometimes with al-AndalusÄ« aẓ-ẒāhirÄ« as well[3] was an Andalusian philosopher, litterateur, historian, jurist and theologian born in Córdoba, present...

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.

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. Munafiq is a term in Islam used to describe a hypocrite, who while outwardly practicing the forms of Islam, inwardly conceals (perhaps even unknowingly) kufr; considered worse than a kafir. ...

Muslim relations with the Kafir

For dealing with non-Muslims, Jasser Auda, a director of the al-Maqasid Research Centre in the Philosophy of the Islamic Law in London, England, says that the general rule is mentioned in the verse that says what means:

God welcomes you to respect 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. (^{[Qur'an 60:8]})

Birr in this context is likened to birr al-walidain, the kindness that a Muslim should show to his or her parents.^[4] This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ...

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.^[5] As in Qur'an:

O ye who believe! take not the Jews and the Christians for your friends and protectors (over the Muslims): 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. ^{[Qur'an 5:51]}

Shi'a jurists have traditionally deemed the person who does not believe in Allah ( God ) and His Oneness 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. As regards the people of the Book (i.e. the Jews and the Christians) who do not accept the Prophethood of Prophet Muhammad bin Abdullah, they are commonly considered Pak ( pure ).^[6][7][8] This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Shī‘a Islam, also Shi‘ite Islam, or Shi‘ism (Arabic ) is the second largest denomination of the Islamic faith. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Haraam. ...

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,Spanish and Greek), caffar, kaffer, kaffir, kafir, etc. (in English, Dutch, and Afrikaans); see kaffir (historical usage in southern Africa). 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. Slave redirects here. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Afrikaans is a West Germanic language mainly spoken in South Africa and Namibia. ... The word Kaffir was used in English and Dutch, from the 16th century to the early 20th century as a blanket term for several different peoples of southern Africa. ... Cape Frontier Wars also called Kaffir wars or Kafir wars (1779-1879) was 100 years of intermittent warfare and nine different wars between the Cape colonists and the Xhosa agricultural and pastoral peoples of the Eastern Cape, in South Africa. ... Kaffraria was the descriptive name given to the southeast part of the Cape Province of South Africa. ... Kaffir limes on sale Kaffir lime (left), used in Thai cooking, with galangal root. ... Durra is a cereal grass, Sorghum vulgare, extensively cultivated in tropical and semi-tropical countries, where the grain, made into bread, forms an important article of diet. ... The words kaffir, kafir, and variations thereof may mean: kafir, kaffir, kafr, kufr, an Islamic religious term usually rendered into English as infidel: see kafir (Islam) The Hindukush Kafir people, peoples of the historic Kafirstan, now the Nuris of Nuristan. ...

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. World map showing the location of Asia. ... The Kaffirs (English) or cafrinhas (Portuguese) are an ethnic group in Sri Lanka who are partially descended from 16th century Portuguese traders and the African slaves who were brought by them, as well as local Tamil and Sinhalese people. ...

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). Kaffir, or kafir, which once was a blanket term for black southern Africans (see South Africa Kaffir people), is now used exclusively as an ethnic or racial slur. ...

See also

• Ahl al-Fatrah
• Dhimmi
• Heathen
• Infidel
• Shirk

In Islamic theology, the term Ahl al-Fatrah () refers to everyone whom the dawah (message of Islam) has not reached in an uncorrupted manner, i. ... This article is about dhimmi in the context of Islamic law. ... Heathen is a term used both to describe a person who does not follow an organized religion, and also a modern practitioner of Heathenry. ... An infidel (literally, one without faith) is one who doubts or rejects central tenets of a religion, especially those regarding its deities. ... Shirk is the Islamic concept of the sin of idolatry. ...

References

Islamonline. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is now the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... February 23 is the 54th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Al-Mawrid is an Islamic research institute in Lahore, Pakistan founded in 1983 and then re-established in 1991. ... Al-Mawrid is an Islamic research institute in Lahore, Pakistan founded in 1983 and then re-established in 1991. ... Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Fazel Lankarani (1931 in Qom, Iran — June 16, 2007 in London, England) was the son of the late Ayatollah Fazel Lankarani, and a student of Grand Ayatollah Borujerdi. ... Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Husaini al-Sistani Arabic: السيد علي الحسيني السيستاني, Persian: سید علی حسینی سیستانی;. Born approximately August 4, 1930) is a Persian Iraqi Grand Ayatollah, a Shia marja . ...

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