Kafir

Kāfir (Template:Langx; Template:Small {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Transliteration, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Transliteration, or {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Transliteration; Template:Small {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Transliteration; Template:Small {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Transliteration or {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Transliteration) is an Arabic-language term used by Muslims to refer to a non-Muslim, more specifically referring to someone who disbelieves in the Islamic God, denies his authority, and rejects the message of Islam as the truth.<ref name="auto1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Schirrmacher 2020">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Adang 2001">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref name=Glasse-2001-247>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Kafir is often translated as 'infidel', 'truth denier',<ref name=TIK/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 'rejector',<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 'disbeliever',<ref name="Adang 2001"/> 'unbeliever',<ref name="Schirrmacher 2020"/><ref name="Adang 2001"/><ref name="Willis 2018">Template:Cite book</ref> The term is used in different ways in the Quran, with the most fundamental sense being ungrateful towards God.<ref name=adams/><ref name="EI2">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> Kufr means 'disbelief', 'unbelief', 'non-belief',<ref name="Schirrmacher 2020"/> 'to be thankless', 'to be faithless', or 'ingratitude'.<ref name="EI2"/> The opposite term of kufr ('disbelief') is iman ('faith'),<ref name="OISO"/> and the opposite of kafir ('disbeliever') is mu'min ('believer').<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> A person who denies the existence of a creator might be called a dahri.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

One type of kafir is a mushrik (مشرك), another group of religious wrongdoer mentioned frequently in the Quran and other Islamic works. Several concepts of vice are seen to revolve around the concept of kufr in the Quran.<ref name="OISO"/> Historically, while Islamic scholars agreed that a mushrik was a kafir, they sometimes disagreed on the propriety of applying the term to Muslims who committed a grave sin or the People of the Book.<ref name="adams" /><ref name="EI2"/> The Quran distinguishes between mushrikūn and People of the Book, reserving the former term for idol worshippers, although some classical commentators considered the Christian doctrine to be a form of shirk.<ref name="EI2-shirk" />

In modern times, kafir is sometimes applied to self-professed Muslims,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Bunt 2009">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> particularly by members of Islamist movements.<ref>Emmanuel M. Ekwo Racism and Terrorism: Aftermath of 9/11 Author House 2010 Template:ISBN page 143</ref> The act of declaring another self-professed Muslim a kafir is known as takfir,<ref name="oxforddictionaries.com">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> a practice that has been condemned but also employed in theological and political polemics over the centuries.<ref name="EJBFEI-619" />

A dhimmi or mu'ahid is a historical term<ref name=Campo/> for non-Muslims living in an Islamic state with legal protection.<ref name="Stillman 1998">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=Campo>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref name="Modarresi">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp Dhimmis were exempt from certain duties specifically assigned to Muslims if they paid the jizya poll tax, but otherwise equal under the laws of property, contract, and obligation according to some scholars,<ref name="Patrick" /><ref name="Gustave" /><ref name="El Fadl" /> whereas others state religious minorities subjected to the status of dhimmis (such as Hindus, Christians, Jews, Samaritans, Gnostics, Mandeans, and Zoroastrians) were inferior to the status of Muslims in Islamic states.<ref name="Stillman 1998"/> Jews and Christians were required to pay the jizya and kharaj taxes,<ref name="Stillman 1998"/> while others, depending on the different rulings of the schools of Islamic jurisprudence, might be required to convert to Islam, pay the jizya, exiled, or subject to the death penalty.<ref name="Stillman 1998"/><ref name=Bon08/><ref name=Wai03/><ref name=Win02/><ref name=Lapid/>

In 2019, Nahdlatul Ulama, the world's largest independent Islamic organization, issued a proclamation urging Muslims to refrain from using the word kafir to refer to non-Muslims because the term is both offensive and perceived as "theologically violent".<ref name=pri /><ref name="The Jakarta Post 2019">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Etymology

The word Template:Transliteration is the active participle of the verb Template:Langx, from root {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} K-F-R.<ref name="EI2"/> As a pre-Islamic term it described farmers burying seeds in the ground. One of its applications in the Quran has also the same meaning as farmer.<ref>(أَعْجَبَ الْكُفَّارَ نَبَاتُهُ) Surah 57 Al-Hadid (Iron) Ayah 20</ref> Since farmers cover the seeds with soil while planting, the word Template:Transliteration implies a person who hides or covers.<ref name="EI2"/> Ideologically, it implies a person who hides or covers the truth. Arabic poets personify the darkness of night as Template:Transliteration, perhaps as a survival of pre-Islamic Arabian religious or mythological usage.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The noun for 'disbelief', 'blasphemy', 'impiety' rather than the person who disbelieves, is Template:Transliteration.<ref name="EI2"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref group="note">Oxford Islamic Studies Online states a better definition of Template:Transliteration is 'to be thankless,' 'to be faithless.'<ref name="OISO">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref></ref>

In the Quran

The distinction between those who believe in Islam and those who do not is made in the Quran. Template:Transliteration, and its plural Template:Transliteration, is used directly 134 times in Quran, its verbal noun Template:Transliteration is used 37 times, and the verbal cognates of Template:Transliteration are used about 250 times.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

By extension of the basic meaning of the root, 'to cover', the term is used in the Quran in the senses of ignore/fail to acknowledge and to spurn/be ungrateful.<ref name="Adang 2001"/> The meaning of 'disbelief', which has come to be regarded as primary, retains all of these connotations in the Quranic usage.<ref name="Adang 2001"/> In the Quranic discourse, the term typifies all things that are unacceptable and offensive to God.<ref name=adams>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> Within the Quranic context, the term implies an active offense and often bears the connotation of "ungratefulness".<ref>Hawting, Gerald R. The idea of idolatry and the emergence of Islam: From polemic to history. Cambridge University Press, 1999. p. 49</ref> In Surah 26:19, the Pharao accuses Moses of being a kafir for being ungrateful to what he has done to him when Moses was a child.<ref>Hawting, Gerald R. The idea of idolatry and the emergence of Islam: From polemic to history. Cambridge University Press, 1999. p. 49</ref> Likewise, Iblis (Satan) does not deny the existence of God, but is called a Template:Transliteration for rejecting God.<ref>Juan Cole University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Juan Cole University of Michigan, Ann Arbor</ref> According to Al-Damiri (1341–1405) it is neither denying God, nor the act of disobedience alone, but Iblis' attitude (claiming that God's command is unjust), which makes him a Template:Transliteration.<ref>Sharpe, Elizabeth Marie into the realm of smokeless fire: (Qur'an 55:14): A critical translation of al-Damiri's article on the jinn from "Hayat al-Hayawan al-Kubra 1953 The University of Arizona download date: 15 March 2020</ref> The most fundamental sense of Template:Transliteration in the Quran is 'ingratitude', the willful refusal to acknowledge or appreciate the benefits that God bestows on humankind, including clear signs and revealed scriptures.<ref name=adams/>

According to the E. J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913–1936, Volume 4, the term first applied in the Quran to unbelieving Meccans, who endeavoured "to refute and revile the Prophet". A waiting attitude towards the Template:Transliteration was recommended at first for Muslims; later, Muslims were ordered to keep apart from unbelievers and defend themselves against their attacks and even take the offensive.<ref name=EJBFEI-619/> Most passages in the Quran referring to unbelievers in general talk about their fate on the day of judgement and destination in hell.<ref name=EJBFEI-619/>

According to scholar Marilyn Waldman, as the Quran "progresses" (as the reader goes from the verses revealed first to later ones), the meaning behind the term Template:Transliteration does not change but "progresses", i.e. "accumulates meaning over time". As the Islamic prophet Muhammad's views of his opponents change, his use of Template:Transliteration "undergoes a development". Template:Transliteration moves from being Template:Em description of Muhammad's opponents to the primary one. Later in the Quran, Template:Transliteration becomes more and more connected with Template:Transliteration. Finally, towards the end of the Quran, Template:Transliteration begins to also signify the group of people to be fought by the Template:Transliteration ('believers').<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Khaled Abou El Fadl argues that Quran 2:62 supports religious pluralism, implying that some non-Muslims are not kafirs: "Those who believe, Jews, Christians, Sabians --whoever believes in God and the Last Day and do good, will have their reward with their Lord and they will not fear, nor grieve." Template:Qref<ref>El Fadl, Khaled Abou (2005), The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam From The Extremists, Harper San Francisco, p.216-217</ref>

Types of unbelievers

People of the Book

Charles Adams writes that the Quran reproaches the People of the Book with Template:Transliteration for rejecting Muhammad's message when they should have been the first to accept it as possessors of earlier revelations, and singles out Christians for disregarding the evidence of God's unity.<ref name=adams/> The Quranic verse Template:Qref ("Certainly they disbelieve [[[:Template:Transliteration]]] who say: God is the third of three"), among other verses, has been traditionally understood in Islam as rejection of the Christian doctrine on the Trinity,<ref name=EoQ-Trinity>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> though modern scholarship has suggested alternative interpretations.Template:Refn Other Quranic verses strongly deny the deity of Jesus Christ, son of Mary and reproach the people who treat Jesus as equal with God as disbelievers who will have strayed from the path of God which would result in the entrance of hellfire.<ref>Joseph, Jojo, Qur'an-Gospel Convergence: The Qur'an's Message To Christians, Template:Webarchive, Journal of Dharma, 1 (January–March 2010), pp. 55–76</ref><ref>Mazuz, Haggai (2012) "Christians in the Qurʾān: Some Insights Derived from the Classical Exegetic Approach", Journal of Dharma 35, 1 (January–March 2010), 55–76</ref> While the Quran does not recognize the attribute of Jesus as the Son of God or God himself, it respects Jesus as a prophet and messenger of God sent to children of Israel.<ref>Schirrmacher, Christine, The Islamic view of Christians: Qur’an and Hadith</ref> Some Muslim thinkers such as Mohamed Talbi have viewed the most extreme Quranic presentations of the dogmas of the Trinity and divinity of Jesus (Template:Qref, Template:Qref, Template:Qref) as non-Christian formulas that were rejected by the Church.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

On the other hand, modern scholarship has suggested alternative interpretations of verse Q.Template:Qref.Template:Citation needed Cyril Glasse criticizes the use of Template:Transliteration (plural of Template:Transliteration) to describe Christians as "loose usage".<ref name=Glasse-2001-247/> According to the Encyclopedia of Islam, in traditional Islamic jurisprudence, Template:Transliteration are "usually regarded more leniently than other Template:Transliteration [plural of Template:Transliteration]" and "in theory" a Muslim commits a punishable offense if they say to a Jew or a Christian: "Thou unbeliever".<ref name="EI2"/> Charles Adams and A. Kevin Reinhart also write that "later thinkers" in Islam distinguished between ahl al-kitab and the polytheists/mushrikīn.<ref name="OISO"/>

Historically, People of the Book permanently residing under Islamic rule were entitled to a special status known as Template:Transliteration, while those visiting Muslim lands received a different status known as Template:Transliteration.<ref name="EI2"/>

The Mushrikun

The mushrikun are those who believe in shirk 'association', which refers to accepting other gods and divinities alongside God.<ref name=EI2-shirk>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> The term is often translated as polytheist.<ref name=EI2-shirk/>

The Quran distinguishes between mushrikun and People of the Book, reserving the former term for idol worshipers, although some classical commentators considered Christian doctrine to be a form of shirk.<ref name=EI2-shirk/> Shirk is held to be the worst form of disbelief and it is identified in the Quran as the only sin that God will not pardon (Template:Qref, Template:Qref).<ref name=EI2-shirk/>

Accusations of Template:Transliteration have been common in religious polemics within Islam.<ref name=EI2-shirk/> Thus, in the early Islamic debates on free will and theodicy, Sunni theologians charged their Mutazila adversaries with Template:Transliteration, accusing them of attributing to man creative powers comparable to those of God in both originating and executing actions.<ref name=EI2-shirk/> Mu'tazila theologians, in turn, charged the Sunnis with shirk because under their doctrine a voluntary human act results from an "association" between God, who creates the act, and the individual who appropriates it by carrying it out.<ref name=EI2-shirk/>

In classical jurisprudence, Islamic religious tolerance applied only to the People of the Book, while mushrikun, based on the Sword Verse, faced a choice between conversion to Islam and fight to the death,<ref name=hallaq>Template:Cite book</ref> which may be substituted by enslavement.<ref name=lewis-1995-230>Template:Cite book</ref> In practice, the designation of People of the Book and the dhimmī status was extended even to non-monotheistic religions of conquered peoples, such as Hinduism.<ref name=hallaq/> Following destruction of major Hindu temples during the Muslim conquests in South Asia, Hindus and Muslims on the subcontinent came to share a number of popular religious practices and beliefs, such as veneration of Sufi saints and worship at Sufi dargahs, although Hindus may worship at Hindu shrines also.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In the 18th century, followers of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, known as Wahhabis, believed kufr or shirk was found in the Muslim community itself, especially in "the practice of popular religion":

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While ibn Abd al-Wahhab and the Wahhābīs were "the best-known premodern" revivalist and "sectarian movement" of that era, other revivalists included Shah Ismail Dehlvi and Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi, leaders of the Mujāhidīn movement on the North-West frontier of India in the early 19th century.<ref name="OISO"/>

Sinners

Whether a Muslim could commit a sin great enough to become a Template:Transliteration was disputed by jurists in the early centuries of Islam. The most tolerant view (that of the Template:Transliteration) was that even those who had committed a major sin (Template:Transliteration) were still believers and "their fate was left to God".<ref name=EJBFEI-619/> The most strict view (that of Kharidji Ibadis, descended from the Kharijites) was that every Muslim who dies having not repented of their sins was considered a Template:Transliteration. In between these two positions, the Template:Transliteration believed that there was a status between believer and unbeliever called "rejected" or Template:Transliteration.<ref name=EJBFEI-619/>

Template:Transliteration

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Template:Further

The Kharijites' view that the self-proclaimed Muslim who had sinned and "failed to repent had ipso facto excluded himself from the community, and was hence a Template:Transliteration" (a practice known as Template:Transliteration)<ref name="Izutsu 2006">Template:Cite book</ref> was considered so extreme by the Sunni majority that they in turn declared the Kharijites to be Template:Transliteration,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> following the hadith that declared, "If a Muslim charges a fellow Muslim with Template:Transliteration, he is himself a Template:Transliteration if the accusation should prove untrue".<ref name=EJBFEI-619/>

Nevertheless, in Islamic theological polemics Template:Transliteration was "a frequent term for the Muslim protagonist" holding the opposite view, according to Brill's Islamic Encyclopedia.<ref name=EJBFEI-619>Template:Cite book</ref>

Present-day Muslims who make interpretations that differ from what others believe are declared Template:Transliteration; Template:Transliteration (edicts by Islamic religious leaders) are issued ordering Muslims to kill them, and some such people have been killed also.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Template:Transliteration

Another group that are "distinguished from the mass of Template:Transliteration"<ref name=EJBFEI-619/> are the Template:Transliteration, or apostate ex-Muslims, who are considered renegades and traitors.<ref name=EJBFEI-619/> Their traditional punishment is death, even, according to some scholars, if they recant their abandonment of Islam.<ref name=lewis-1995-230q>Template:Cite book</ref>

Template:Transliteration / Template:Transliteration

Template:Transliteration are non-Muslims living under the protection of an Islamic state.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> Template:Transliteration are exempt from certain duties assigned specifically to Muslims if they paid the poll tax (Template:Transliteration) but were otherwise equal under the laws of property, contract, and obligation according to some scholars,<ref name="Patrick">H. Patrick Glenn, Legal Traditions of the World. Oxford University Press, 2007, p. 219.</ref><ref name="Gustave">The French scholar Gustave Le Bon (author of La civilisation des Arabes) writes "that despite the fact that the incidence of taxation fell more heavily on a Muslim than a non-Muslim, the non-Muslim was free to enjoy equally well with every Muslim all the privileges afforded to the citizens of the state. The only privilege that was reserved for the Muslims was the seat of the caliphate, and this, because of certain religious functions attached to it, which could not naturally be discharged by a non-Muslim." Mun'im Sirry (2014), Scriptural Polemics: The Qur'an and Other Religions, p.179. Oxford University Press. Template:ISBN.</ref><ref name="El Fadl">Template:Cite book</ref> whereas others state that religious minorities subjected to the status of Template:Transliteration (such as Jews, Samaritans, Gnostics, Mandeans, and Zoroastrians) were inferior to the status of Muslims in Islamic states.<ref name="Stillman 1998"/> Jews and Christians were required to pay the Template:Transliteration while pagans, depending on the different rulings of the four Template:Transliteration, might be required to accept Islam, pay the jizya, be exiled, or be killed under the Islamic death penalty.<ref name="Stillman 1998"/><ref name=Bon08>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=Wai03>Waines (2003). "An Introduction to Islam". Cambridge University Press. p. 53</ref><ref name=Win02>Winter, T. J., & Williams, J. A. (2002). Understanding Islam and the Muslims: The Muslim Family Islam and World Peace. Louisville, Kentucky: Fons Vitae. p. 82. Template:ISBN. Quote: The laws of Muslim warfare forbid any forced conversions, and regard them as invalid if they occur.</ref><ref name=Lapid>Template:Cite book</ref> Some historians believe that forced conversion was rare in Islamic history, and most conversions to Islam were voluntary. Muslim rulers were often more interested in conquest than conversion.<ref name="Lapid" />

Upon payment of the tax (Template:Transliteration), the Template:Transliteration would receive a receipt of payment, either in the form of a piece of paper or parchment or as a seal humiliatingly placed upon their neck, and was thereafter compelled to carry this receipt wherever they went within the realms of Islam. Failure to produce an up-to-date Template:Transliteration receipt on the request of a Muslim could result in death or forced conversion to Islam of the Template:Transliteration in question.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Failed verification

Types of disbelief

Various types of unbelief recognized by legal scholars include:

• Template:Transliteration (verbally expressed unbelief)<ref name="Adang-2015-11">Template:Cite book</ref>
• Template:Transliteration (unbelief expressed through action)<ref name="Adang-2015-11"/>
• Template:Transliteration (unbelief of convictions)<ref name="Adang-2015-11"/>
• Template:Transliteration (major unbelief)<ref name="Adang-2015-11"/>
• Template:Transliteration (minor unbelief)<ref name="Adang-2015-11"/>
• Template:Transliteration (general charge of unbelief, i.e. charged against a community like ahmadiyya<ref name="Adang-2015-11"/>
• Template:Transliteration (charge of unbelief against a particular individual)<ref name="Adang-2015-11"/>
• Template:Transliteration (charge of unbelief against "rank and file Muslims" for example following taqlid.<ref name="Adang-2015-11"/>
• Template:Transliteration (category covers general statements such as 'whoever says X or does Y is guilty of unbelief')<ref name="Adang-2015-11"/>
• Template:Transliteration (original unbelief of non-Muslims, those born to non-Muslim family)<ref name="Adang-2015-11"/>
• Template:Transliteration (acquired unbelief of formerly observant Muslims, i.e. apostates)<ref name="Adang-2015-11"/>

Iman

Muslim belief/doctrine is often summarized in "the Six Articles of Faith",<ref name=RF>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> (the first five are mentioned together in the Template:Qref).

1. God<ref name=q-trans/>
2. His angels<ref name=q-trans/>
3. His Messengers<ref name=q-trans/>
4. His Revealed Books,<ref name=q-trans/>
5. The Day of Resurrection<ref name=q-trans/>
6. Template:Transliteration, Divine Preordainments, i.e. whatever God has ordained must come to pass<ref name=q-trans/>

According to the Salafi scholar Muhammad Taqi-ud-Din al-Hilali, "Template:Transliteration is basically disbelief in any of the articles of faith." He also lists several different types of major disbelief, (disbelief so severe it excludes those who practice it completely from the fold of Islam):

1. Template:Transliteration: disbelief in divine truth or the denial of any of the articles of Faith (Quran 39:32)<ref name=q-trans/>
2. Template:Transliteration: refusing to submit to God's Commandments after conviction of their truth (Quran 2:34)<ref name=q-trans/>
3. Template:Transliteration: doubting or lacking conviction in the six articles of Faith. (Quran 18:35–38)<ref name=q-trans/>
4. Template:Transliteration: turning away from the truth knowingly or deviating from the obvious signs which God has revealed. (Quran 46:3)<ref name=q-trans/>
5. Template:Transliteration: hypocritical disbelief (Quran 63:2–3)<ref name=q-trans>Template:Cite bookTemplate:Dead link</ref>

Minor disbelief or Template:Transliteration indicates "ungratefulness of God's Blessings or Favours".<ref name=q-trans/>

According to another source, a paraphrase of the Template:Transliteration by Ibn Kathir,<ref name=TIK>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Unreliable source? there are eight kinds of Template:Transliteration (major unbelief), some are the same as those described by Al-Hilali (Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration) and some different.

1. Template:Transliteration: Disbelief out of stubbornness. This applies to someone who knows the Truth and admits to knowing the Truth, and knowing it with their tongue, but refuses to accept it and refrains from making a declaration.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
2. Template:Transliteration: Disbelief out of denial. This applies to someone who denies with both heart and tongue.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
3. Template:Transliteration: Disbelief out of rejection. This applies to someone who acknowledges the truth in their heart, but rejects it with their tongue. This type of Template:Transliteration is applicable to those who call themselves Muslims but who reject any necessary and accepted norms of Islam such as Template:Transliteration and Template:Transliteration.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
4. Template:Transliteration: Disbelief out of hypocrisy. This applies to someone who pretends to be a believer but conceals their disbelief. Such a person is called a Template:Transliteration or hypocrite.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
5. Template:Transliteration: Disbelief out of detesting any of God's commands.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
6. Template:Transliteration: Disbelief due to mockery and derision.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
7. Template:Transliteration: Disbelief due to avoidance. This applies to those who turn away and avoid the truth.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
8. Template:Transliteration: Disbelief because of trying to substitute God's Laws with man-made laws.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Ignorance

In Islam, Template:Transliteration ('ignorance') refers to the time of Arabia before Islam.

History of the usage of the term

Usage in the earliest sense

When the Islamic empire expanded, the word Template:Transliteration was broadly used as a descriptive term for all pagans and anyone else who disbelieved in Islam.<ref name=HMP/><ref name=HoI/> Historically, the attitude toward unbelievers in Islam was determined more by socio-political conditions than by religious doctrine.<ref name=EJBFEI-619/> A tolerance toward unbelievers "impossible to imagine in contemporary Christendom" prevailed even to the time of the Crusades, particularly with respect to the People of the Book.<ref name=EJBFEI-619/> However, due to animosity towards Franks, the term Template:Transliteration developed into a term of abuse. During the Mahdist War, the Mahdist State used the term Template:Transliteration against Ottoman Turks,<ref name=EJBFEI-619/> and the Turks themselves used the term Template:Transliteration towards Persians during the Ottoman-Safavid wars.<ref name=EJBFEI-619/> In modern Muslim popular imagination, the Template:Transliteration (Antichrist-like figure) will have k-f-r written on his forehead.<ref name=EJBFEI-619/>

However, there was extensive religious violence in India between Muslims and non-Muslims during the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire (before the political decline of Islam).<ref name=mgat>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Holt et al., The Cambridge History of Islam – The Indian sub-continent, south-east Asia, Africa and the Muslim west, Template:ISBN</ref><ref>Scott Levi (2002), Hindu beyond Hindu Kush: Indians in Central Asian Slave Trade, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol 12, Part 3, pp. 281–83</ref> In their memoirs on Muslim invasions, enslavement and plunder of this period, many Muslim historians in South Asia used the term Template:Transliteration for Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains.<ref name=HMP>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=HoI>Elliot and Dowson, Tarikh-i Mubarak-Shahi, The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians – The Muhammadan Period, Vol 4, Trubner London, p. 273</ref><ref>Elliot and Dowson, Tabakat-i-Nasiri, The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians – The Muhammadan Period, Vol 2, Trubner London, pp. 347–67</ref><ref>Elliot and Dowson, Tarikh-i Mubarak-Shahi, The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians – The Muhammadan Period, Vol 4, Trubner London, pp. 68–69</ref> Raziuddin Aquil states that "non-Muslims were often condemned as Template:Transliteration, in medieval Indian Islamic literature, including court chronicles, Sufi texts and literary compositions" and Template:Transliteration were issued that justified persecution of the non-Muslims.<ref>Raziuddin Aquil (2008), On Islam and Kufr in the Delhi Sultanate, in Rethinking a Millennium: Perspectives on Indian History (Editor: Rajat Datta), Template:ISBN, Chapter 7, pp. 168–85</ref>

Relations between Jews and Muslims in the Arab world and use of the word Template:Transliteration were equally as complex, and over the last century, issues regarding Template:Transliteration have arisen over the conflict in Israel and Palestine.<ref name="Taji-Farouki2000">Template:Cite journal</ref> Calling the Jews of Israel, "the usurping Template:Transliteration", Yasser Arafat turned on the Muslim resistance and "allegedly set a precedent for preventing Muslims from mobilizing against 'aggressor disbelievers' in other Muslim lands, and enabled 'the cowardly, alien Template:Transliteration' to achieve new levels of intervention in Muslim affairs."<ref name="Taji-Farouki2000" />

In 2019, Nahdlatul Ulama, the largest independent Islamic organization in the world, issued a proclamation urging Muslims to refrain from using the word Template:Transliteration to refer to non-Muslims, as the term is both offensive and perceived to be "theologically violent".<ref name=pri>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Muhammad's parents

According to Islamic sources, none of forefathers of Muhammad were Template:Transliteration.<ref>Alusi. Roohul Ma'ani. Vol. 7. pp. 194-195.</ref><ref>Jalaludheen Suyuti. Masalikul Hunafa. p. 33.</ref> According to Ibn Hajar, the Quran clearly declares that Ahl al-Fatrah were among the Muslims.<ref name="auto">Ibn Hajar. Al-Minah al-Makkiyyah. p. 151.</ref> Ibn Hajar is of opinion that none of the Muhammad's parents who were non-prophets were Template:Transliteration (disbelievers) and all the hadiths on this subject (although some hadithsTemplate:Which seem to contradict it) mean that.<ref name="auto"/> Ibn Hajar says about Muhammad saying his Template:Transliteration is in the Hell, that the Template:Transliteration in the hadith refers to the paternal uncle and that Arabs widely use Template:Transliteration to refer to Template:Transliteration (paternal uncle).<ref>Al-Haytami, Ibn Hajar. Al-Minah al-Makkiyyah. p. 153.</ref> Most Sunni scholars hold the view that the parents of Muhammad are saved and inhabitants of Heaven.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Shia Muslim scholars likewise consider Muhammad's parents to be in Paradise.<ref>alhassanain. The Nasibis Kufr Fatwa – that the Prophet (s)'sparents were Kaafir (God forbid) Template:Webarchive</ref><ref>Shia Pen. Chapter Four – The pure monotheistic lineage of Prophets and Imams (as) Template:Webarchive</ref> In contrast, the Salafi<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> website IslamQA.info, founded by the Saudi Arabian Salafi scholar Muhammad Al-Munajjid, argues that Islamic tradition teaches that Muhammad's parents were Template:Transliteration ('disbelievers') who are in Hell.<ref name="Al-Munajjid">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Other uses

File:011 Kafirs of Natal.jpg

The Template:Transliteration of Natal and the Zulu Country by Rev. Joseph Shooter

By the 15th century, Muslims in Africa were using the word Template:Transliteration in reference to the non-Muslim African natives. Many of those Template:Transliteration were enslaved and sold to European and Asian merchants by their Muslim captors, most of the merchants were from Portugal, which had established trading outposts along the coast of West Africa by that time. These European traders adopted the Arabic word and its derivatives.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Some of the earliest records of European usage of the word can be found in The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation (1589) by Richard Hakluyt.<ref>Template:Gutenberg author</ref> In volume 4, Hakluyt writes: "calling them Cafars and Gawars, which is, infidels or disbelievers".<ref>Template:Gutenberg</ref> Volume 9 refers to the slaves (slaves called Cafari) and inhabitants of Ethiopia ("and they use to go in small shippes, and trade with the Cafars") by two different but similar names. The word is also used in reference to the coast of Africa as "land of Cafraria".<ref>Template:Gutenberg</ref> The 16th century explorer Leo Africanus described the Cafri as "negroes", and he also stated that they constituted one of five principal population groups in Africa. He identified their geographical heartland as being located in a remote region of southern Africa, an area which he designated as Cafraria.<ref name="Leo5153">Template:Cite book</ref>

By the late 19th century, the word was in use in English-language newspapers and books.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Gutenberg</ref><ref>Template:Gutenberg</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> One of the Union-Castle Line ships operating off the South African coast was named SS Template:Transliteration.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In the early 20th century, in his book The Essential Template:Transliteration, Dudley Kidd writes that the word Template:Transliteration had come to be used for all dark-skinned South African tribes. Thus, in many parts of South Africa, Template:Transliteration became synonymous with the word "native".<ref name="Kidd 1925 v">Template:Cite book</ref> Currently in South Africa, however, the word kaffir is regarded as a racial slur, applied pejoratively or offensively to blacks.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The song "Kafir" by the American technical death metal band Nile on its sixth album Those Whom the Gods Detest uses the violent attitudes that Muslim extremists have towards Template:Transliteration as subject matter.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Unreliable source?

The Nuristani people were formerly known as the Kaffirs of Kafiristan before the Afghan Islamization of the region.

The Kalash people who live in the Hindu Kush mountain range which is located south west of Chitral are referred to as Template:Transliteration by the Muslim population of Chitral.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In modern Spanish, the word {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, derived from the Arabic word Template:Transliteration by way of the Portuguese language, also means 'uncouth' or 'savage'.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>

External links

• Nonbelief: An Islamic Perspective
• Qur'an verses that speak about non-Muslims Template:Webarchive
• Takfir – Anathematizing
• Universal Validity of Religions and the Issue of Takfir
• Inminds.co.uk
• Hermeneutics of takfir