28. Who is a kafir?
The word kafir has never been used in the Quran to mean either a non-Muslim or an infidel. In fact, this term was applied solely to contemporaries of the Prophet. Kafir (pl. kuffar) was used to refer to those people who had completely understood the true message of Islam and refused to believe in it due to stubbornness. The Prophet peacefully conveyed to them the divine message over a long period of time, but they refused to follow the truth of his words. God, therefore, declared those people, the contemporaries of the Prophet as kuffar that is, the deniers. The use of the word kafir for anyone other than the contemporaries of the Prophet is not permissible.
The most important point to be grasped on this subject is that the word kafir denotes an individual rather than a certain race or community. It is in no way a group appellation. However, the generally held view is that one who is not a Muslim is kafir. This is an entirely baseless supposition. The word kafir is not synonymous with non-Muslim or a non-Muslim community.
Being a kafir is a matter of the heart, which God alone knows and therefore no person has any right to accuse a fellow human as being kafir. Kafir was a term of reference, restricted in place and time, and which is no longer relevant today. Now all are equally human beings and they have to be dealt with as human beings.
There is a relevant story in the life of the Prophet of Islam that aptly illustrates this principle. The Prophet of Islam migrated from Makkah to Madinah in 622 AD at which time there were some Jewish tribes living in Madinah. One day it happened that the Prophet of Islam, seated at that time, saw a funeral procession passing through a street in Madinah. On seeing the funeral, he stood up in deference.
One of his Companions said, ‘O Prophet! That was the funeral of a Jew, not a Muslim.’ The Prophet replied: ‘Was he not a human being?’ (Sahih al-Bukhari, hadith no. 1312, 1313)
The Prophet could discover a commonality between himself and a Jew, because both were human beings and creations of God.
Present-day Muslims often callously use the term kafir. They must bear in mind the following hadith of the Prophet of Islam where he condemned mindless usage of this term and said:
If one accuses another of being a kafir and the accused is not one, then the word will return to the accuser. (Sahih al-Bukhari, hadith no. 6045)
Muslims must therefore absolutely refrain from alleging anyone as being a kafir or a denier.
