The Debate Over The Word Kafir: Can The Term Kafir Be Removed From Islamic Religious Discourse

Can The Word Kafir Be Removed From Islamic Religious Discourse Main Points: 1. The word is mentioned in the holy Quran hundreds of times. 2. The word Kafir generally means one who does not believe in one God. 3. Kufr includes Shirk. 4. Polytheists of Makkah are called Kafir. ------ By New Age Islam Staff Writer 24 October 2022 Since RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat raised the issue of the use of the word Kafir for Indian Hindus, a debate has been started on the justification or the lack of it of its use for them. Mr Bhagwat had said that Hindus are hurt when they are calked Kafir by Indian Muslims. The delegation of Muslims had reportedly assured him that they would appealed to the Muslims of India not to use the word for them. The question is: Can a representative of Muslims or a body of Muslims be authorised to declare a term or word used in the Quran obsolete and appeal to the Muslims not to use it? The Quran was revealed primarily for the polytheists of Makkah. Though the Quran is a guiding light for the whole world as no prophet or scripture will be sent after the revelation of the Quran, the immediate audience of the Quran were the idol worshippers of Makkah, including the members of the prophet's own clan Quraysh. The majority of Makkans were polytheists though they believed in a Supreme Lord Allah. This fact is clearly mentioned in the Quran in a number of verses. The word Kafir is mainly used for one who does not believe in one God. Islam preaches monotheism which is opposite of polytheism. Therefore, the main opponents of Islam were the polytheists of Makkah and Madina. The Jews were not polytheists but they opposed Islam or prophet pbuh due to economic and political reasons and religious bias. Islam had wielded a blow to money lending on Riba, wine industry, flesh trade and slave trade on which Jews had a monopoly. Therefore, the Quran means those polytheists of Makkah or of Arab when it mentions the word Kafir. For example: "Say, O you disbelievers (Kafirun), I do not worship what you worship, nor do you worship what I worship. I will never worship what you worship, nor will you ever worship what I worship. You have your way and I have my way."(Al Kafirun) Here Kafir are those who do not worship what the prophet of Islam worships. And the prophet of Islam pbuh does not worship (idols) what they worship. Here the word Kafir clearly refers to polytheism. Now, Kufr includes shirk, that is, associating gods with God (Allah, Brahma, Ishwar, Parmatma). Therefore those among Christians who believe in Trinity are called Kafir. "Those who say Allah is one of a Trinity have certainly fallen into disbelief(Kufr). There is only one God. If they do not stop saying this, those who disbelieve among them will be afflicted with a painful punishment,"(Maidah:73) When Prophet Noah pbuh preached monotheism among his people, the disbelieving chiefs of his people are called by the Quran Kafir because they worship false Gods( Wudd, Suwaa, Yawuq, Yaguth and Nasr) . "The disbelieving (Kafir) chiefs of his people said, ' we see you only as a human being like ourselves and we see that no one follows you except the lowliest among us who do so hastily without thinking. W do not see anything that makes all of you any better than us. In fact, we think you are liars "(Hud:27) The polytheists of Makkah reallocate months of honour for their own benefit. They are said to be progressing in Kufr. "Reallocating the sanctity of these months is an increase in disbelief (Kufr), by which the disbelievers are led far astray. They adjust the sanctity one year and uphold it in another, only to maintain the number of months sanctified by Allah, violating the very months Allah has made sacred. Their evil deeds have been made appealing to them. And Allah does not guide the disbelieving people (Qaumal Kafirin)".(Taubah:37) The discussion above makes it clear that Kufr and Kafir are ideological terms that denote belief and practices that go against the monotheistic spirit of Islam. Even those among the Christians who believe in Trinity are said to be committing Kufr (disbelief) but not all of the Christians are stereotyped. This is also said about Jews and can also be said about a section among all the religious communities including Indian religious communities. Almost all the religions have words and terms for those who do not have belief in their religious doctrine. Nastik is used by Hindus who do not believe in gods. They even use the word Maleccha for all other lower castes including Muslims. The Jews use the word gentile for non -Jews. This religious supremacism is a mark of all religious communities. The word Kafir also means ungrateful. One who does not belief in the Supreme God is actually ungrateful to him because he attributes all the favours and bounties to other gods because of his ignorance. Therefore, the word Kafir and Kufr are not used by Muslims to belittle or denigrate Indian Hindus in particular but only as an ideological term that denotes disbelief and disbeliever in one Supreme God. The Upanishads preach monotheism and many Hindus have belief in monotheism. Islam preaches to hate the sin and not the sinner. It actually enjoins Muslim to engage in dialogue with the members of the other communities. Therefore, the word Kafir is not directly aimed at the entire Hindu community of India. 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