Who Is Called Kafir?
Question:
AOA, please mention that where in Quran is written that only those people are called Kafir who have rejected the message of Allah and not those Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists who are not aware of the message of God.
Please give the reference from Quran.
Answer:
Assalamu Alaykum,
Nowhere in the Qur’an this has been written, in fact the word Kafir is not categorically defined in the Qur’an, just as many other concepts and titles are not categorically defined in the Qur’an. This is because the Qur’an is not a dictionary or a teaching text book. The Qur’an is a book for deliberation (tadabbur) and it is through this deliberation that its concepts and terms are understood.
Allow me to first explain my understanding of a relevant principle and then look at the usage of the word Kafir in the Qur’an:
The question of the word Kafir in the Qur’an is not the main question. It is in fact a branch of a more fundamental question. The main question is: who are those with whom God is angry and has promised hell fire to them. The real question is therefore the criteria of God's judgement in the hereafter.
My answer, based on numerous verses of the Qur’an (to count a few from many: 2:109, 2:256, 4:115, 8:6, 47:25, 47:32, 2:22, 2:42, 3:71, 61:5, 2:146, 6:20) is that these are those who have arrogantly rejected the truth.
People who arrogantly reject the truth do so in one of the two ways:
- They listen to the message, realise its truth, yet due to arrogance decide to reject it
- They listen to the message but due to their arrogance it is like they do not listen at all, they do not even get close to truly try to understand what the message is and therefore they find it apparently not convincing.
Both the above are due to arrogance. Arrogance is what made Satan disobey God (2:34) and it is also what sends a human being to hell. Hell in fact is the home for arrogant (39:60).
Therefore what makes God angry with people is not that they do not accept the message of His prophets, but that they reject their message out of arrogance. This is also evident from the promise of the Almighty that no one will be wronged and misjudged in the hereafter (39:69).
With the above principle in mind, (where the blame is not on ‘not following the truth’ but is on ‘not following the truth due to arrogance’), we can then look at the word Kafir in the Qur’an to see what it means.
A quick browse through the Qur’an reveals that (with the exception of Kufr towards Satan in verse 2:256) Kafir and hell fire are like the two sides of a same coin. Nowhere in the Qur’an God refers to Kuffar (plural of Kafir) lightly and as a stage of being honestly unaware of the truth.
The conclusion from the above is that just as Kafir and hell fire are the two sides of a same coin, Kafir and 'arrogance' too are the two sides of a same coin. From here comes the definition of Kafir, that will be a person who rejects the truth out of arrogance.
This is also very much inline with the literal meaning of the word Kufr, that means, covering and hiding something (i.e. the truth).
**********
According to my count, the word Kafir (noun) and its other noun derivatives have been repeated in the Qur’an 170 times. If you look at the verses in which the noun forms of Kafir have been appeared you will see that almost all of them are referring to people who have been among the direct addressees of the prophets (pbut). These are the same who have been criticised for their arrogance that stops them from seeing the truth or from accepting the truth once they realise it. These are the same who have been promised the hell fire.
Accordingly, Kafir, as the Qur’an uses it, refers to a person who deserves hell fire due to rejecting the truth out of arrogance.
Let us review a few verses of the Qur’an in support of the above:
- Look at the first instance of the use of a derivative of Kafara in the Qur’an. It clearly shows that the attitude of Kufr makes a person so arrogant that he will become indifference when seeing the truth:
إِنَّ الَّذينَ كَفَرُوا سَواءٌ عَلَيْهِمْ أَ أَنْذَرْتَهُمْ أَمْ لَمْ تُنْذِرْهُمْ لا يُؤْمِنُون
Surely those who rejected (the truth), it being alike to them whether you warn them, or do not warn them, will not believe. (2:6)
- Look at 2:34, see how arrogance and Kufr are connected together:
وَ إِذْ قُلْنا لِلْمَلائِكَةِ اسْجُدُوا لِآدَمَ فَسَجَدُوا إِلاَّ إِبْليسَ أَبى وَ اسْتَكْبَرَ وَ كانَ مِنَ الْكافِرين
And when We said to the angels: prostrate Adam, they all prostrated except Iblis who refused and showed arrogance and he was one of the rejecters (Kaferin) (2:34)
- Look at 2:89, see the connection between Kufr and Knowing the truth yet rejecting it:
لَمَّا جاءَهُمْ كِتابٌ مِنْ عِنْدِ اللَّهِ مُصَدِّقٌ لِما مَعَهُمْ وَ كانُوا مِنْ قَبْلُ يَسْتَفْتِحُونَ عَلَى الَّذينَ كَفَرُوا فَلَمَّا جاءَهُمْ ما عَرَفُوا كَفَرُوا بِهِ فَلَعْنَةُ اللَّهِ عَلَى الْكافِرين
And when a Book from God came to them in confirmation of the predictions they had with them and before this they had been praying for victory against those who had rejected (their religion). Then when that came to them which they recognized, they rejected (Kafaru) it. (2:89)
It is interesting that even when the Qur’an uses the word Kufr in its positive meaning (that is Kufr of a believer towards Satan), it does not mean rejecting Satan due to not being aware of him, or due to not being sure about his evil, rather, it implies rejecting Satan, knowing his evil nature (as far as human being concerns):
لا إِكْراهَ فِي الدِّينِ قَدْ تَبَيَّنَ الرُّشْدُ مِنَ الْغَيِّ فَمَنْ يَكْفُرْ بِالطَّاغُوتِ وَ يُؤْمِنْ بِاللَّهِ فقد استَمْسَكَ بِالْعُرْوَةِ الْوُثْقى لاَ انْفِصامَ لَها وَ اللَّهُ سَميعٌ عَليمٌ
There is no compulsion in religion Truly the right way has become clearly distinct from error, Therefore, whoever rejects the Shaitan an believes in God, he indeed has laid hold on the firmest handle, which shall not break off And God is Hearing, Knowing. (2:256)
In other words, a Kafir to God and a Kafir to Satan, both know exactly what it is they are rejecting. The first rejects God out of arrogance while the second rejects Satan out of piety.
I hope you appreciate that I did not spend much time trying to find verses of the Qur’an that could prove my point about the meaning of Kafir. Quite contrary, I spent much time trying to choose which out of many available verses on this subject to include in this answer.
**********
My overall conclusion from the above is as follows:
If we want to be inline with the Qur’an in using the word Kafir, then we cannot call all the non-Muslims Kafir. We are only allowed to call those people Kafir who reject the truth out of arrogance. Since we do not know about the inner intentions and feelings of individuals, we are never in a position to make such judgement and to use the word Kafir for people at our time. The people that we definitely can call Kafir are those that the Qur’an addressed as Kafir. These were people who rejected the message of the messengers who were directly sent to them out of arrogance.
On the other hand, we cannot say that it is forbidden to use the word Kafir with a different definition, simply meaning anyone who is not a Muslim. However by doing so we will create a big confusion as we are using a Qur’anic word in a different meaning. In fact we are using a Qur’anic word in a meaning that is completely devoid from its core concept. It is therefore better to avoid this.
I hope this is clear and please do let me know if anything needs clarification.
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November 2013
AOA, please mention that where in Quran is written that only those people are called Kafir who have rejected the message of Allah and not those Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists who are not aware of the message of God.
Please give the reference from Quran.
Answer:
Assalamu Alaykum,
Nowhere in the Qur’an this has been written, in fact the word Kafir is not categorically defined in the Qur’an, just as many other concepts and titles are not categorically defined in the Qur’an. This is because the Qur’an is not a dictionary or a teaching text book. The Qur’an is a book for deliberation (tadabbur) and it is through this deliberation that its concepts and terms are understood.
Allow me to first explain my understanding of a relevant principle and then look at the usage of the word Kafir in the Qur’an:
The question of the word Kafir in the Qur’an is not the main question. It is in fact a branch of a more fundamental question. The main question is: who are those with whom God is angry and has promised hell fire to them. The real question is therefore the criteria of God's judgement in the hereafter.
My answer, based on numerous verses of the Qur’an (to count a few from many: 2:109, 2:256, 4:115, 8:6, 47:25, 47:32, 2:22, 2:42, 3:71, 61:5, 2:146, 6:20) is that these are those who have arrogantly rejected the truth.
People who arrogantly reject the truth do so in one of the two ways:
- They listen to the message, realise its truth, yet due to arrogance decide to reject it
- They listen to the message but due to their arrogance it is like they do not listen at all, they do not even get close to truly try to understand what the message is and therefore they find it apparently not convincing.
Both the above are due to arrogance. Arrogance is what made Satan disobey God (2:34) and it is also what sends a human being to hell. Hell in fact is the home for arrogant (39:60).
Therefore what makes God angry with people is not that they do not accept the message of His prophets, but that they reject their message out of arrogance. This is also evident from the promise of the Almighty that no one will be wronged and misjudged in the hereafter (39:69).
With the above principle in mind, (where the blame is not on ‘not following the truth’ but is on ‘not following the truth due to arrogance’), we can then look at the word Kafir in the Qur’an to see what it means.
A quick browse through the Qur’an reveals that (with the exception of Kufr towards Satan in verse 2:256) Kafir and hell fire are like the two sides of a same coin. Nowhere in the Qur’an God refers to Kuffar (plural of Kafir) lightly and as a stage of being honestly unaware of the truth.
The conclusion from the above is that just as Kafir and hell fire are the two sides of a same coin, Kafir and 'arrogance' too are the two sides of a same coin. From here comes the definition of Kafir, that will be a person who rejects the truth out of arrogance.
This is also very much inline with the literal meaning of the word Kufr, that means, covering and hiding something (i.e. the truth).
**********
According to my count, the word Kafir (noun) and its other noun derivatives have been repeated in the Qur’an 170 times. If you look at the verses in which the noun forms of Kafir have been appeared you will see that almost all of them are referring to people who have been among the direct addressees of the prophets (pbut). These are the same who have been criticised for their arrogance that stops them from seeing the truth or from accepting the truth once they realise it. These are the same who have been promised the hell fire.
Accordingly, Kafir, as the Qur’an uses it, refers to a person who deserves hell fire due to rejecting the truth out of arrogance.
Let us review a few verses of the Qur’an in support of the above:
- Look at the first instance of the use of a derivative of Kafara in the Qur’an. It clearly shows that the attitude of Kufr makes a person so arrogant that he will become indifference when seeing the truth:
إِنَّ الَّذينَ كَفَرُوا سَواءٌ عَلَيْهِمْ أَ أَنْذَرْتَهُمْ أَمْ لَمْ تُنْذِرْهُمْ لا يُؤْمِنُون
Surely those who rejected (the truth), it being alike to them whether you warn them, or do not warn them, will not believe. (2:6)
- Look at 2:34, see how arrogance and Kufr are connected together:
وَ إِذْ قُلْنا لِلْمَلائِكَةِ اسْجُدُوا لِآدَمَ فَسَجَدُوا إِلاَّ إِبْليسَ أَبى وَ اسْتَكْبَرَ وَ كانَ مِنَ الْكافِرين
And when We said to the angels: prostrate Adam, they all prostrated except Iblis who refused and showed arrogance and he was one of the rejecters (Kaferin) (2:34)
- Look at 2:89, see the connection between Kufr and Knowing the truth yet rejecting it:
لَمَّا جاءَهُمْ كِتابٌ مِنْ عِنْدِ اللَّهِ مُصَدِّقٌ لِما مَعَهُمْ وَ كانُوا مِنْ قَبْلُ يَسْتَفْتِحُونَ عَلَى الَّذينَ كَفَرُوا فَلَمَّا جاءَهُمْ ما عَرَفُوا كَفَرُوا بِهِ فَلَعْنَةُ اللَّهِ عَلَى الْكافِرين
And when a Book from God came to them in confirmation of the predictions they had with them and before this they had been praying for victory against those who had rejected (their religion). Then when that came to them which they recognized, they rejected (Kafaru) it. (2:89)
It is interesting that even when the Qur’an uses the word Kufr in its positive meaning (that is Kufr of a believer towards Satan), it does not mean rejecting Satan due to not being aware of him, or due to not being sure about his evil, rather, it implies rejecting Satan, knowing his evil nature (as far as human being concerns):
لا إِكْراهَ فِي الدِّينِ قَدْ تَبَيَّنَ الرُّشْدُ مِنَ الْغَيِّ فَمَنْ يَكْفُرْ بِالطَّاغُوتِ وَ يُؤْمِنْ بِاللَّهِ فقد استَمْسَكَ بِالْعُرْوَةِ الْوُثْقى لاَ انْفِصامَ لَها وَ اللَّهُ سَميعٌ عَليمٌ
There is no compulsion in religion Truly the right way has become clearly distinct from error, Therefore, whoever rejects the Shaitan an believes in God, he indeed has laid hold on the firmest handle, which shall not break off And God is Hearing, Knowing. (2:256)
In other words, a Kafir to God and a Kafir to Satan, both know exactly what it is they are rejecting. The first rejects God out of arrogance while the second rejects Satan out of piety.
I hope you appreciate that I did not spend much time trying to find verses of the Qur’an that could prove my point about the meaning of Kafir. Quite contrary, I spent much time trying to choose which out of many available verses on this subject to include in this answer.
**********
My overall conclusion from the above is as follows:
If we want to be inline with the Qur’an in using the word Kafir, then we cannot call all the non-Muslims Kafir. We are only allowed to call those people Kafir who reject the truth out of arrogance. Since we do not know about the inner intentions and feelings of individuals, we are never in a position to make such judgement and to use the word Kafir for people at our time. The people that we definitely can call Kafir are those that the Qur’an addressed as Kafir. These were people who rejected the message of the messengers who were directly sent to them out of arrogance.
On the other hand, we cannot say that it is forbidden to use the word Kafir with a different definition, simply meaning anyone who is not a Muslim. However by doing so we will create a big confusion as we are using a Qur’anic word in a different meaning. In fact we are using a Qur’anic word in a meaning that is completely devoid from its core concept. It is therefore better to avoid this.
I hope this is clear and please do let me know if anything needs clarification.
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November 2013
