Who Is A Kafir?
By
Naseer Ahmed, New Age Islam
11 October
2022
There Could Therefore Be A Difference In The
Meaning Of A Word As Used In The Quran, The Meaning It Acquired In Islamic Theology,
And The Meaning That It Acquired Through Common Usage
------
This
article is based on the clear meaning of the word in the Quran and not based
upon its acquired meaning in Islamic theology. The community also defines the
meaning by the way it uses the word. The dictionaries are a post-facto record
of the meanings that communities have given to a word. There could therefore be
a difference in the meaning of a word as used in the Quran, the meaning it
acquired in Islamic theology, and the meaning that it acquired through common
usage. There are many words in the Quran whose meanings changed in Islamic
theology and through common usage. Kafir is one such word. To derive the
authentic meaning of the Quranic verses, it is therefore essential not to be
blindsided by either the dictionary or by Islamic theology and its bigotry.
The task of
hermeneutics is therefore entering into dialogue with the text of the Quran.
The meaning of Kafir has been derived by me based on a comprehensive and
rigorous analysis of all the verses numbering over 500 in which the word and
its grammatical variants occur in the Quran. This is covered in my articles:
Revisiting the Meaning of Kafir
This
article is a brief summary of the long articles cited above.
Only The Open Enemies Of The Prophet, Islam
And Muslims Are Kafir
In three
different Surahs, the behaviour of three of the biggest enemies of the Prophet,
Islam and Muslims is described and their punishment in the Hereafter is
indicated which means that they will die as enemies of Islam. For more on the
subject, read:
The Story of the Prophetic mission of Muhammad (pbuh)
from the Qu’ran (part 1): The early opposition
Allah says
about such people:
(7:146) Those
who behave arrogantly on the earth in defiance of right - them will I turn away
from My signs: Even if they see all the signs, they will not believe in them;
and if they see the way of right conduct, they will not adopt it as the way;
but if they see the way of error, that is the way they will adopt. For they
have rejected our signs, and failed to take warning from them.
These three
and others like them are the Kafirun whom Allah turns away from His Signs
because of which it can be predicted by Him that they will not worship what the
Prophet worshipped. The Prophet is asked to address them (they are known for
their violent opposition) and ask them to go their own way and allow the
Muslims to go their own way. It is an offer of a treaty of non-interference in
each other's religion and peaceful co-existence. The relevant Surah is:
Surah 109
Al-Kafirun
(1) Say : O ye Kafirun!
(2) I worship not that which ye worship,
(3) Nor will ye worship that which I
worship.
(4) And I will not worship that which ye
have been wont to worship,
(5) Nor will ye worship that which I
worship.
(6) To you be your Way, and to me mine.
The masses
are without knowledge and blindly follow their leaders. When those leaders lose
their power, they follow the new leaders. Islam was attractive to the masses
but they feared the consequences of accepting Islam because the weak Muslims
were tortured and persecuted by the powerful leaders of the Quraish. These were
not people who could be described as those who will not worship what the
Prophet worshipped. There were many among them sympathetic to Islam. This Surah
does not apply to such Mushrikin. The Surah, therefore, is about the Kafirun
among the Mushrikin and not all the Mushrikin of Mecca have been deemed Kafir
in the Quran. We also know from history that the majority of the Mushrikin
accepted Islam and worshipped what the Prophet worshipped and therefore the
Surah is not about such people. Even as late as the revelation of Surah Taubah
which was after the conquest of Mecca and the defeat of the remaining tribes of
the Mushrikin, the Quran does not consider all the defeated Mushrikin as Kafir
but only those guilty of excesses such as turning out the Muslims from the
sacred Mosque and fighting in violation of their treaty. If the Quran uses Kafir
to describe anyone, that person is beyond redemption and will die as a Kafir.
The
Kafir
Who then
are the Kafirun? They are those who will never repose faith in Allah (by
whatever name) and follow the ideals of their scriptures. This is covered in my
article:
Who Are Those Who Will Believe And Those Who Will
Not?
Potential
believers are not Kafir and only Allah knows who among the people are Kafir and
who are Momin. The Momin or the believers are not only confessional Muslims but
Muslims by the generic meaning of Islam and Muslim in the Quran, which includes
people of all scripture based religions.
Also
Read: The Meaning of Islam and Muslim
Kafir
should therefore never be used for any specific person or group unless it is
for an open enemy of any religion and its peaceful followers or for evident
oppressors in defiance of what is just.
Even Muslims who are enemies of any other religion and its peaceful
followers or unjust oppressors of other people are Kafir going by its meaning.
The Quran recognizes the right of all people to follow whatever they choose in
peace.
(2:256) Let
there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from Error: whoever
rejects evil and believes in Allah hath grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold,
that never breaks. And Allah heareth and knoweth all things.
Also
Read: The Pluralistic Message of the Quran
-----
A frequent contributor to
NewAgeIslam.com, Naseer Ahmed is an Engineering graduate from IIT Kanpur and is
an independent IT consultant after having served in both the Public and Private
sector in responsible positions for over three decades. He has spent years
studying Quran in-depth and made seminal contributions to its interpretation.
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-ideology/kafir-quran-islamic-theology-/d/128153
New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic
Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism