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Kafir ( from Islam. It is usually translated into English as " Infidel " or "unbeliever" and can carry the equivalent weight as a Racial Epithet . Debate exists between some Muslim scholars as to whether the term applies to Jews and Christians. Generally speaking, the more fundamentalist the scholar, the more likely they will rule that this term applies to those groups. 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, {Link without Title} and carries the weight of a Racial Epithet . QUR'ANIC REFERENCE 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:
2. Kufr al-ni`mah: to lack gratefulness to God or to people. The Qur’an says:
3. Kufr at-tabarri: to disown/clear oneself from. The Qur’an says:
4. Kufr al-juhud: to deny. The Qur’an says:
5. Kufr at-taghtiyah: to hide/bury something, like planting a seed in the ground. The Qur’an says:
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 go for Hajj but does not go, without denying the need to go, would be committing an act of kufr in a sense of ungratefulness to Allah
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 Allah from it. The Qur’an says what means:
So, it is something that is said to them by Allah Almighty or by the angels, not by us. 2 . In Surat Al-Kafirun (109) that you mentioned in your question. It says what means:
This surah is addressing Prophet Muhammad and therefore must be understood in its historical context. Allah is asking Prophet Muhammad to address a group of leaders from Makkah 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 Allah 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 principals: 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:
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. Allah called the later group only by the name “People of the Book.” For example, the Qur’an says what means:
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”. ACCORDING TO SCHOLARS According to some Islamic scholars, People Of The Book -- that is to say Christian s, Jew s (including Samaritan s) and " Sabians " -- are not kafir because they are considered recipients of divine revelation from Allah . However, other scholars, such as those backing militant Islamist s, often do not make the distinction in their rhetoric and use the term ''kafir'' to include these religious communities. Ibn Taymiyah says :Not believing in Allah 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 Allah 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. ACTS THAT INVALIDATE ISLAM "Verily, Allah 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 Allah, 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. MUSLIM RELATIONS WITH THE KAFIR For dealing with non-Muslims, the general rule is mentioned in the verse that says what means: :Allah does not forbid you respecting those who have not made war against you on account of religion, and have not driven you forth from your homes, that you show them kindness (birr) and deal with them justly; surely Allah loves the doers of justice. Allah 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. () ''Birr'' in this context is likened to ''birr al-walidain'', the kindness that a Muslim should show to his or her parents. IslamOnline , Jasser Auda Bernard Lewis ''The Jews of Islam'', Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1984, ISBN 0691008078, pp. 33–34 Fundamentalist Muslims believe that making friends with the Kafir is prohibited in Islam. They often use the following Qur'anic verse as proof. :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 Allah guideth not a people unjust.(). 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'', who were Enslaved and sold by their Muslims captors to European 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 ), ''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) . 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 India n ancestry to Jamaicans of African ancestry. See Kaffir (ethnic Slur) . SEE ALSO Ahl Al Fatrah , Fasiq , Gentile , Heathen , Infidel , Mu'min , Munafiq , Muslim , Pagan , People Of The Book , Shirk NOTES EXTERNAL LINKS
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