Kafir Meaning

KĀFIR (كافر‎), pl. kāfirūn. Lit. “The coverer.” One who hides or covers up the truth.

The word is generally used by Muḥammadans to define one who is an unbeliever in the ministry of Muḥammad and his Qurʾān, and in this sense it seems to have been used by Muḥammad himself. Sūrah ii. 37: “Those who misbelieve (waʾllaẕīna kafarū), [260]and call our signs lies, they are fellows of the Fire, they shall dwell within for ever.”

It is also used for those who believe in the Divinity of the Lord Jesus, and the Holy Trinity. Sūrah v. 76: “They indeed are infidels (la-qad kafara ʾllaẕīna), who say God is al-Masīḥu ibn Maryam.… Verily him who associates anything with God, hath God forbidden Paradise, and his resort is the Fire.”

Sūrah v. 77: “They are infidels who say Verily God is the third of three.”

[On this passage the Kamālān say it refers to the Nestorians and to the Malakāʾīyah, who believe that God is one of three, the other two being the mother and son.]

According to the Raddu ʾl-Muḥtār (vol. iii. p. 442), there are five classes of kāfirs or infidels: (1) Those who do not believe in the Great First Cause; (2) Those who do not believe in the Unity of God, as the S̤anawīyah who believe in the two eternal principles of light and darkness; (3) Those who believe in the Unity of God, but do not believe in a revelation; (4) Those who are idolaters; (5) Those who believe in God and in a revelation, but do not believe in the general mission of Muḥammad to the whole of mankind, as the Christians, a sect of the Jews (sic).

Saiyid Sharīf Jurjānī says: “Mankind are divided into two parties, namely, those who acknowledge the mission of Muḥammad, or those who do not believe in it. Those who do not believe in his mission are either those who reject it and yet believe in the inspiration and divine mission of other prophets, as the Jews or Christians, and also the Majūsī (Fire Worshippers); or those who do not believe in any revelation of God’s will. Those who do not believe in any revelation from God, are either those who acknowledge the existence of God, as the Brāhmā (Buddhists?), or those who deny the existence of a Supreme Ruler, as the Dahrī, or Atheists.”

“Those who do not acknowledge Muḥammad as an inspired prophet are either those who do it wilfully and from mere enmity, or those who do not acknowledge it from reflection and due study of the subject. For the former is eternal punishment, and for the latter that punishment which is not eternal. There are also those who, whilst they are Muslims, are not orthodox in their belief; these are heretics, but they are not kāfirs. Those who are orthodox are an-Nājī or the salvationists.” (Sharḥu ʾl-Muwāqif, p. 597.)