12. KUFR (INFIDELITY)

There is a story about a hunter and his bear. One day the hunter went hunting. When he became tired he took rest under a tree and fell asleep. His bear watched and guarded him. A fly started disturbing the hunter and stayed on his forehead. The bear wanted to kill it and took a piece of stone. Fortunately the hunter had woken up before the bear hit the fly on his forehead. The moral lesson in this story is that good action with good intention but with ignorance could end with an undesirable consequence.
Speaking about people who are extremely enthusiastic about Islam but with lack of knowledge and understanding of this religion, the prominent Egyptian scholar Shaykh (Sheikh) Muhammad al-Ghazālī tells us the following story:
It happened that the chief of a village sent a message to the imam of a mosque asking him to tell the people in the mosque that an agricultural engineer was coming, and a meeting would be held with him, so that he could give them important directions concerning agriculture. When the imam took the microphone, a pious student protested and said that the Prophet had prohibited people from asking about straying camels in the mosque, and argued that the mosque was exclusively for the purpose of praying; he prohibited the imam from using the microphone. When the dispute became intensified, the student grabbed the microphone and said, “The microphone can be taken from me only after my dead body.”
Shaykh al-Ghazālī’s comment on this incident is that the use of analogy by comparing the agricultural directions with looking for a straying camel is not correct. Even if it were correct, it would be easier than sacrificing a person. He said further that strangely enough, this extremity occurs in covetousness and disputable matters, such as being fastidious on where and how you put your hands and legs in praying, instead of being active in social services which will give more benefit to the community. When religious extremists find any wrong-doing with people, they hasten to brand them with rebellion (fisq) or infidelity (kufr) as if they consider a person to be sinful until he is proved to be innocent which is contrary to the Islamic law.
The extremists say that whoever leaves the obligatory prayers becomes kāfir (infidel), citing many h.adīths (traditions) from the Prophet, such as: “Prayer is the prop of the religion (of Islam); whoever leaves it is kāfir.” Arguing with them, Shaykh al-Ghazālī said that the person who leaves the obligatory prayers commits a great sin, but he becomes a infidel only if he denies what is known in religion by necessity, such as the oneness of Allah, the messengership of Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.), and the obligation of fasting in the month of Ramadan. With regard to those who leave the obligatory prayers out of negligence, they are not infidels because they affirm the injunction of these obligatory prayers.
Rejecting the extremists’ view that the neglectors of prayers should be treated as apostates, al-Ghazālī said that we should not forget the tradition reported by h.adīth collectors that the Prophet said about a person who left his prayers out of negligence, that he had no‘ahd (covenant, protection) with Allah; Allah might forgive or punish him. Al-Ghazālī contends that this is also the view of the majority of the Muslims, and the H...anafīs (followers of the H...anafī school of law) do not persecute this kind of people. We should be kind to him, give him advice and lead him to the mosque.
The wordكَفَرَ (kafara) literally means “to cover”. The expression كَفَرَ دِرْعَهُ بِثَوْبِهِ means “he covered his coat of arms with his dress (robe)”. The expression كَفَرَ اللَّيْلُ الشَّيْءَ means, “the night covered the thing”. The pre-Islamic poet Labid said in his poetry فِيْ لَيْلَةٍ كَفَرَ النُّجُوْمَ غَمَامُهَا which means “in a night when its cloud covered the stars.” The wordكَافِر (kāfir), infidel, originally means “a coverer”, namely, something that covers; it could also mean: a dark night, a sea, a grand valley, a big river, a distant place, a dark cloud, a coat of arm, a plant, a person who covers his coat of arm under his garment, a farmer, and many other meanings. In the following Qur’ānic verse the word كُفَّار (kuffār, pl. of kāfir) means “farmers, the tillers.”
كَمَثَلِ غَيْثٍ أَعْجَبَ الْكُفَّارَ نَبَاتُهُ (الحديد : ٢٠)
“(It is) as the likeness of vegetation after rain, thereof
the growth is pleasing the tillers.” 45
Abdullah Yusuf Ali’s comment on this verse is as follows:
“Kuffār is here used in the unusual sense of ‘tillers or husbandmen’,
because they sow the seed and cover it up with soil. But the ordinary
meaning,‘Rejecters of the Truth’, is not absent.
The allegory refers to such men”
So, here the word kuffār means “farmers”. However, in another verse, the word kuffār means “infidels”, “unbelievers”, namely “coverers of the truth.” Allah said:
ِ وَمَثَلُهُمْ فِي الْإِنْجِيلِ كَزَرْعٍ أَخْرَجَ شَطْأَهُ فَآَزَرَهُ
فَاسْتَغْلَظَ فَاسْتَوَى عَلَى سُوقِهِ يُعْجِبُ الزُّرَّاعَ لِيَغِيظَ بِهِمُ الْكُفَّارَ...
(الفتح : ٢٩)
“… But their description in the Gospel is like a (sown) seed
[of Islam] which sends forth its shoots, then makes it strong, and
becomes thick and its stands straight on its stem, delighting
the sowers[i.e., the Prophet and his companions], that
He may enrage the disbelievers with them…” 46
There are four meanings of كُفْر (kufr) and its derivatives in the Qur’ān: الإنْكَار (rejection), الجُحُوْد (denial), كُفْرُ النِّعْمَة (ungratefulness), and البَرَاءَة disown). The examples in the Qur’ān are as follows:
1. Kufr which means “rejection” is as in the following verse:
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا سَوَاءٌ عَلَيْهِمْ أَأَنْذَرْتَهُمْ أَمْ لَمْ تُنْذِرْهُمْ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ
(البقرة: ٦)
“As to those who reject faith it is the same to them whether thou
warn them or do not warn them; they will not believe.” 47
Kufr which means “denial” is as in the following verse:
وَلَمَّا جَاءَهُمْ كِتَابٌ مِنْ عِنْدِ اللَّهِ مُصَدِّقٌ لِمَا مَعَهُمْ وَكَانُوا مِنْ قَبْلُ
يَسْتَفْتِحُونَ عَلَى الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا فَلَمَّا جَاءَهُمْ مَا عَرَفُوا كَفَرُوا بِهِ فَلَعْنَةُ اللَّهِ عَلَى الْكَافِرِينَ
(البقرة: ٨٩).
“And when there comes to them a Book from Allah [i.e., the Qur’ān],
confirming that is with them [i.e., the Torah]—although from the
old they had prayed for victory against those without faith
—when there comes to them that which they (should)
have recognized, they refused to believe in it; but
the curse of Allah is on those without faith.” 48
The occasion which led to the revelation of the above verse is as follows: The Jews of Madinah used to threaten the Arab idolaters, saying: “A prophet will come at the end of time and will assist us fighting against you.” But when Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) came they denied him, although they knew him as they knew their own sons. Allah says:
الَّذِينَ آَتَيْنَاهُمُ الْكِتَابَ يَعْرِفُونَهُ كَمَا يَعْرِفُونَ أَبْنَاءَهُمْ
وَإِنَّ فَرِيقًا مِنْهُمْ لَيَكْتُمُونَ الْحَقَّ وَهُمْ يَعْلَمُونَ
(البقرة: ١٤٦).
“The People of the Book [i.e., the Jews of Madinah] know this
[Prophet Muhammad] as they know their own sons, but some
of them conceal the truth which they themselves know.” 49
A.Y. Ali’s commentary on this verse is as follows:
“The People of the Book know Muhammad
as they know their own sons: they know him to be true
and upright: they know him to be in the line of Abraham: they know
him to correspond to the description of the prophet foretold among
themselves: but the selfishness induces some of them to act
against their own knowledge and conceal the truth.”
Mu‘ādh bin Jabal told the Jews: “O Jewish people, fear Allah and become Muslims; when we were still idolaters you used to threaten us with Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) whom you told us about his characters and traits. Now he has come.” One of the Banū al-Naz.īr Jewish tribe said: “The one we know has not come yet, and Muhammad is not the one we mentioned to you.” So Allah revealed the above verse.
2. Kufr, which means “ungratefulness”, is as in the following verse:
فَاذْكُرُونِي أَذْكُرْكُمْ وَاشْكُرُوا لِي وَلَا تَكْفُرُونِ (البقرة: ١٥٢)
“Then do ye remember Me; and I will remember you. Be grateful
to Me and reject not faith [namely, do not be ungrateful.” 50
In another verse Allah says:
وَلَقَدْ آَتَيْنَا لُقْمَانَ الْحِكْمَةَ أَنِ اشْكُرْ لِلَّهِ
وَمَنْ يَشْكُرْ فَإِنَّمَا يَشْكُرُ لِنَفْسِهِ وَمَنْ كَفَرَ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَنِيٌّ حَمِيدٌ
(لقمان: ١٢)
“We bestowed (in the past) wisdom on Luqman: ‘Show (thy)
gratitude to Allah’. Any who is (so grateful does so to the
profit of his own soul: but if any is ungrateful, verily
Allah is free of all wants, worthy of all praise.” 51
Kufr which means “disown” is as in the following verse:
ثُمَّ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ يَكْفُرُ بَعْضُكُمْ بِبَعْضٍ (العنكبوت : ٢٥)
“But in the day of judgment ye shall disown each other.” 52
These are some examples in the Qur’ān where the term كُفْر and its derivatives should be understood and translated in its contextual meanings rather than its literal, basic, or textual meanings. Failing to do this could mislead people. Moreover, the term كُفْر which means “unbelief” and its derivatives is divided into major kufr and minor kufr. In his book مَدَارِجُ السَّالِكِيْن (The Ways of Path Followers) Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah of the H...anbalī school divided kufr into two categories: the major kufr, namely, rejecting and denying Allah and His Messenger, and the minor kufr, namely, committing sins, disobedience without rejecting Allah and His Messenger. The example of minor kufr is as in the following verse:
وَمَنْ لَمْ يَحْكُمْ بِمَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ فَأُولَئِكَ هُمُ الْكَافِرُونَ (المائدة : ٤٤).
“If any do fail to judge by (the light of) what
Allah hath revealed, they are unbelievers.” 53
A group of people calledجَمَاعَةُ التَّكْفِيْرِ وَالْهِجْرَة (a party which charge people of being unbelievers and departing from Islam) whose leader is Shaykh Shukrī considers whoever commits a major sin as a kāfir, an unbeliever. In his book ذِكْرَيَاتِي مَعَ جَمَاعَةِ الْمُسْلَمِيْنَ التَّكْفِيِْر وَ ْالهِجْرَة (My Reminiscence with the Muslim group al-Takfīr wa 'l-Hijrah) ‘Abd al-Rah.mān Abū al-Khayr says that according to these people the Muslim rulers are unbelievers because they do not judge according to what Allah has revealed, as mentioned in the above verse: the people (the Muslim rulers’ subjects) are also unbelievers, because they obey the rules which are not revealed by Allah. The ‘ulamā’ (Muslim scholars) are also unbelievers, because they do not condemn their rulers as unbelievers. Those who reject their views are also unbelievers, even if they accept their view but do not pay allegiance to their emir, are still unbelievers. Those who accept the view of the founders of the Islamic schools of law, ijmā' (the consensus of opinions of Muslim scholars), qiyās (analogy), istih.sān (the method of finding the law which for any reason is contradictory to the usual qiyās), and other sources of the Sharī‘ah are all unbelievers.
This is extremity in branding the Muslims with infidelity. Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) had warned us against practicing this kind of accusation when he said:
مَنْ قَالَ لِأَخِيهِ يَا كَافِرُ فَقَدْ بَاءَ بِهَا أَحَدُهُمَا
(رواه أحمد)
“Whoever says to his brother ‘O kāfir’ it [i.e., being
kāfir or the accusation of it] will go to one of them." 54
Therefore, since the accused is not a convicted apostate then the accusation will turn back to the accuser. This is the danger of having insufficient knowledge of Islam and making fatwā (a personal legal judgement, which should be given exclusively by Muslim judges and scholars) out of it. An unqualified physician is dangerous to his patients, and an unqualified ‘alim is dangerous to the Muslims.

Footnotes:
45. Qur’ān, al-H.adīd [57]:20
46. Qur’ān, al-Fath. [48]:29
47. Qur’ān, al-Baqarah [2]:6
48. Qur’ān, al-Baqarah [2]:89
49. Qur’ān, al-Baqarah ]2]:146
50. Qur’ān al-Baqarah [2]:152
51. Qur’ān, Luqmān [31]:12
52. Qur’ān, al-‘Ankabūt [29]:25
53. Qur’ān, al-Mā’idah [5]:44
54. Reported by Ahmad