Jump to content

Kafir

Priority: b, Quality: c
From wikishia
(Redirected from Infidel)

Kāfir (Arabic:كافر) is someone who denies God, His oneness, the prophethood of Muhammad (s), the Day of Judgment, or, more generally, the essential tenets of the religion. Some categories of kafir include the People of the Book, the dhimmi unbeliever, the belligerent enemy, the apostate, and the kafir taba'i. Each of these categories carries specific jurisprudential rulings. For instance, according to the majority of jurists, a kafir is considered ritually impure; moreover, a Muslim woman may not contract a marriage with a kafir man, and a Muslim man may not marry a kafir woman.

Jurists, citing the Principle of Nafy al-sabil (the negation of domination), hold that God does not legislate any ruling that would allow a kafir to have authority over a Muslim. From this principle, they derive certain more specific rulings concerning unbelievers. For example, a virgin Muslim daughter may marry without her father's consent if he is a kafir, since requiring the father's permission would constitute a form of domination. Likewise, a kafir judge may not adjudicate a case between two Muslims, since adjudication entails exercising authority over the parties to the dispute.

Concept and Classification

A kafir is defined as a person who denies God, His oneness, the prophethood of the Prophet (s), the existence of the Day of Resurrection, or—more generally—the essential doctrines of the religion.[1] The term kafir derives from the root kufr, meaning "to cover" or "to conceal."[2] Accordingly, anyone who rejects one or all of these fundamental truths is described as a kafir.[3] Indeed, anyone who conceals or suppresses the signs of God's existence and His oneness is described as a kafir.[4] Semantically, the term kafir is associated with related concepts such as mulhid (atheist),[5] zindiq (heretic),[6] dahri (eternalist),[7] and mushrik (polytheist).[8]

It is reported that the word kufr and its various derivatives—including kafir—appear more than five hundred times in the Qur'an,[9] often accompanied by warnings of divine punishment.[10] In numerous chapters of Islamic jurisprudence, whether in commercial law or devotional rulings, discussions address the legal status of the kafir as well as the obligations of Muslims concerning how they should interact with them.[11]

Types of Kafir

In Islamic jurisprudence, various categories of kafir have been identified, each with its own specific legal rulings.

Kafir Kitabi (People of the Book)

Main article: People of the Book

A "kafir kitabi", or a member of the People of the Book, is someone who follows a religion possessing a revealed scripture, such as Judaism or Christianity.[12] According to jurists, anyone for whom there is a reasonable doubt as to whether they possess a divine scripture is also considered among the People of the Book. For this reason, Zoroastrians have likewise been classified as People of the Book.[13]

Kafir Asli

A "kafir asli" (innate or original unbeliever) is defined in contrast to an apostate (murtadd).[14] The term refers to someone born to non-Muslim parents who has never previously embraced Islam.[15] According to the consensus of Shia jurists,[16] if a kafir asli later becomes Muslim, he is not required to make up (qada') acts of worship —such as prayer or fasting—that were missed during his state of unbelief.[17]

  • A kafir asli is classified into three types:[18]
  1. Kafir al-dhimmi: A kafir dhimmi refers to those People of the Book residing in Islamic territories who enter into a dhimma pact with the Islamic ruler.[19] The dhimma is a covenant under which the People of the Book are permitted to remain upon their religion and enjoy the protection of the Islamic state in return for paying the jizya.[20]
  2. Kafir al-harbi (belligerent unbeliever): A kafir harbi is an unbeliever who is at war with Muslims and has no pact—such as a dhimma covenant, a grant of safe-conduct (aman), or a truce—with them, whether they belong to the People of the Book or not.[21] According to jurists, the life and property of a kafir harbi are not immune from violation. However, if a kafir harbi enters into a dhimma pact (which applies exclusively to the People of the Book), or is granted aman or a truce (which applies to non–People of the Book) with Muslims, then their life and property become protected.[22]
  3. Kafir al-muhadin (non-hostile unbeliever): A kafir muhadin refers to unbelievers who are neither bound by a covenant with Muslims nor at war with them.[23] The Shia jurist Nasir Makarim Shirazi holds that Qur'an 60:8 pertains to this group, advising Muslims to observe justice and benevolence toward them.[24]

Kafir Taba'i (Derivative unbeliever)

According to jurists, the child of a kafir, before reaching puberty, is regarded as an unbeliever by following the religion of his non-Muslim parents and is therefore classified as a kafir taba'i (derivative unbeliever).[25] Jurists hold that the legal rulings applicable to a kafir taba'i—including matters of ritual impurity and purity, as well as certain other legal obligations—are the same as those that apply to his parents.[26]

Murtadd (Apostate)

Main article: Murtadd

A murtadd is someone who has voluntarily renounced Islam.[27] Jurists classify apostates into two types: Fitri (innate) and Milli (converted).[28] A fitri murtadd is a person born to Muslim parents[29]—or at least one Muslim parent[30]—who later leaves Islam.[31] A milli murtadd refers to someone who was initially a non-Muslim, embraced Islam, and subsequently reverted from it.[32]

Some legal rulings apply universally to all categories of kāfir, as follows:

  • According to Muhammad Hasan al-Najafi, the Shia jurists of the Imami school have reached a consensus that a kafir is ritually impure, with no distinction made between a kafir asli (original unbeliever), a murtadd (apostate), a kafir kitabi (People of the Book), or a kafir harbi (belligerent unbeliever).[33] However, according to the Shia jurist Muhammad Ibrahim Jannati, contrary to the majority opinion, some jurists have ruled that People of the Book are ritually pure (tahir).[34]
  • A Muslim woman may not enter into a marital contract with a kafir, and a Muslim man may not marry a kafir woman.[35] However, some jurists hold that a Muslim man may contract a temporary marriage (mut'a) with a kafir kitabi (Woman of the Book).[36]
  • Consuming the flesh of an animal slaughtered by a kafir is prohibited, with no distinction made between the different categories of kafir in this regard.[37] According to al-Shaykh al-Baha'i, a small number of jurists have considered the slaughter of People of the Book to be permissible (halal).[38]

Denial of Any Authority of a Kafir over Muslims

Main article: Principle of Nafy al-sabil

Jurists, based on the principle of Nafy al-sabil (denial of any authority), hold that God does not legislate any ruling that would allow a kafir to exercise authority over Muslims.[39] Consequently:

  • A kafir has no guardianship (wilaya) over his minor child if the child is Muslim.[40] The marriage of a virgin Muslim daughter is valid without her father's consent if he is a kafir,[41] since such consent would constitute a form of authority which God has prohibited.[42]
  • According to Imami jurists, a kafir judge may not adjudicate between two Muslims, as adjudication entails exercising authority over the parties to the dispute.[43] By consensus of Imami jurists, a kafir may not act as an agent (wakil) on behalf of a Muslim—whether appointed by the Muslim or by the kafir himself—because agency involves a form of authority.[44]

Notes

  1. ↑ Subhānī, al‑Īmān wa al‑Kufr fī al‑Kitāb wa al‑Sunna, p. 49.
  2. ↑ Jawharī, al‑Ṣiḥāḥ, under the word "Kufr".
  3. ↑ Rāghib Isfahānī, al‑Mufradāt fī gharīb al‑Qurʾān, under the word "Kufr".
  4. ↑ Ibn Manẓūr, Lisān al‑ʿArab, under the word "Kufr".
  5. ↑ Tabāṭabāʾī, al‑Mīzān, vol. 17, p. 397.
  6. ↑ Muṭahharī, Khadamāt‑i mutaqābil‑i Iran va Islām, p. 399.
  7. ↑ Tabāṭabāʾī, al‑Mīzān, vol. 18, p. 174.
  8. ↑ Tabāṭabāʾī, al‑Mīzān, vol. 17, p. 397.
  9. ↑ Rūḥānī, al‑Muʿjam al‑Iḥṣāʾī, vol. 1, p. 530.
  10. ↑ Qur'an 4:151; Qur'an 48:36; Tabāṭabāʾī, al‑Mīzān, vol. 20, p. ?
  11. ↑ Najafī, Jawāhir al‑kalām, vol. 6, p. 41; vol. 21, p. 48; vol. 29, p. 207; vol. 39, p. 15.
  12. ↑ Najafī, Jawāhir al‑kalām, vol. 21, p. 228.
  13. ↑ Najafī, Jawāhir al‑kalām, vol. 21, p. 228.
  14. ↑ Najafī, Jawāhir al‑kalām, vol. 39, p. 26; al‑Mawsūʿa al‑Fiq-hiyya al‑Kuwaitiyya, vol. 2, p. 227.
  15. ↑ Sanduqdār, Aḥkām‑i Kāfirān wa Murtaddān dar Fiqh‑i Islāmī, p. 3.
  16. ↑ Ṭūsī, al‑Khilāf, vol. 1, p. 443; Ibn Zuhra al-Ḥalabī, Ghanīyat al‑nuzūʿ, p. 100.
  17. ↑ Rūḥānī, Fiqh al‑Ṣādiq, vol. 8, p. 422.
  18. ↑ Bahrānī, Al‑Ḥadāʾiq al‑Nāḍira, vol. 22, p. 192; Sanduqdār, Aḥkām‑i Kāfirān wa Murtaddān dar Fiqh‑i Islāmī, p. 3.
  19. ↑ Mishkīnī, Muṣṭalaḥāt al‑Fiqh, p. 470.
  20. ↑ Mishkīnī, Muṣṭalaḥāt al‑Fiqh,p. 280-281.
  21. ↑ Group of Authors, Farhang-i Fiqh‑i Fārsi, vol. 1, p. 763.
  22. ↑ Najafī, Jawāhir al‑kalām, vol. 21, p. 103; vol. 38, p. 8.
  23. ↑ Aḥkām‑i Kāfir. Official Website of Makārim Shirāzī.
  24. ↑ Aḥkām‑i Kāfir. Official Website of Makārim Shirāzī.
  25. ↑ Kho'eī, Mawsūʿat al‑Imām al‑Kho'eī, vol. 8, p. 312.
  26. ↑ Kho'eī, Mawsūʿat al‑Imām al‑Kho'eī, vol. 8, p. 312.
  27. ↑ Mūsawī Ardabīlī, Fiqh al‑hudūd wa al‑taʿzīrāt, vol. 4, p. 44-46.
  28. ↑ Muḥaqqiq al-Ḥillī, Sharāʾyiʿ al‑Islām, vol. 4, p. 170-171.
  29. ↑ Muḥaqqiq al-Ḥillī, Sharāʾyiʿ al‑Islām, vol. 4, p. 170.
  30. ↑ Najafī, Jawāhir al‑kalām, vol. 41, p. 602.
  31. ↑ Muḥaqqiq al-Ḥillī, Sharāʾyiʿ al‑Islām, vol. 4, p. 170.
  32. ↑ Muḥaqqiq al-Ḥillī, Sharāʾyiʿ al‑Islām, vol. 4, p. 171.
  33. ↑ Najafī, Jawāhir al‑kalām, vol. 6, p. 41-42.
  34. ↑ Jannātī, Ṭahārat al‑kitābī fī fatwā al‑Sayyid al‑Ḥakīm, p. 20.
  35. ↑ Muḥaqqiq al-Karakī, Jāmiʿ al‑maqāṣid fī sharḥ al‑maqāṣid, vol. 12, p. 391.
  36. ↑ Wahīd Khurāsānī, Tawḍīḥ al‑Masāʾil, p. 660; Sīstānī, Tawḍīḥ al‑Masāʾil, 501.
  37. ↑ Shahīd al-Thānī, al‑Rawḍat al‑bahiyya, vol. 7, p. 208.
  38. ↑ Shaykh al-Bahā'ī, Ḥurmat dhabaʾiḥ Ahl al‑Kitāb, p. 60.
  39. ↑ Mūsawī Bajnurdī, al‑Qawāʿid al‑fiqhiyya, vol. 1, p. 187-188.
  40. ↑ Najafī, Jawāhir al‑kalām, vol. 29, p. 206; Tabāṭabāʾī Yazdī, al‑ʿUrwat al‑Wuthqā, vol. 5, p. 624.
  41. ↑ Shahīd al-Thānī, Masālik al‑Ifhām, vol. 7, p. 166-167.
  42. ↑ Shahīd al-Thānī, Masālik al‑Ifhām, vol. 7, p. 166-167.
  43. ↑ Tabāṭabāʾī Yazdī, al‑ʿUrwat al‑Wuthqā, vol. 6, p. 417; Subhānī, Niẓām al‑Qaḍāʾ wa al‑Shahāda fī al‑Sharīʿa al‑Islāmiyya al‑Gharāʾ, vol. 1, p. 34.
  44. ↑ Shahīd al-Thānī, Masālik al‑Ifhām, vol. 7, p. 270.

References

  • Bahrānī, Yūsuf. Al‑Ḥadāʾiq al‑Nāḍira. Qom: Muʾassasat al‑Nashr al‑Islāmī, 1405 AH.
  • Group of Authors. Al‑Mawsūʿa al‑Fiq-hiyya al‑Kuwaitiyya. Kuwait: Dār al‑Salāsil, 1404–1427 AH.
  • Group of Authors. Farhang-i Fiqh‑i Fārsi. Qom: Muʾassisa‑yi Dāʾrat al‑Maʿārif Fiqh‑i Islāmī, 1387 SH.
  • Ibn Zuhra al-Ḥalabī, Ḥamzat b. ʿAlī. Ghanīyat al‑nuzūʿ. Edited by Ibrāhīm Bahādarī. Qom: Muʾassasat al-Imām al-Ṣādiq (a), 1st ed., 1417 AH.
  • Ibn Manẓūr, Muḥammad b. Mukarram. Lisān al‑ʿArab. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir, 1414 AH.
  • Jannātī, Muḥammad Ibrāhīm. Ṭahārat al‑kitābī fī fatwā al‑Sayyid al‑Ḥakīm. Najaf: Maṭbaʿat al‑Qaḍāʾ, 1390 AH.
  • Jawharī, Abū Naṣr. Al‑Ṣiḥāḥ: Tāj al‑lugha wa Ṣiḥāḥ al‑ʿArabiyya. Beirut: 4th ed., 1404 AH.
  • Khoʾeī, Abu l‑Qāsim. Mawsūʿat al‑Imām al‑Khoʾeī. Qom: Iḥyāʾ al‑Āthār al‑Imām al‑Khoʾeī, 1418 AH.
  • Muḥaqqiq al-Ḥillī, Jaʿfar b. Ḥasan al-. Sharāʾyiʿ al‑Islām fī Masāʾil al‑Ḥalāl wa al‑Ḥarām. Qom: Muʾassisa‑yi Ismāʿīlīyān, 1408 AH.
  • Muḥaqqiq al-Karakī, ʿAlī b. Ḥusayn al-. Jāmiʿ al‑maqāṣid fī sharḥ al‑maqāṣid. Qom: Muʾassisa‑yi Āl al‑Bayt, 1414 AH.
  • Mishkīnī, ʿAlī. Muṣṭalaḥāt al‑Fiqh. Qom: Nashr‑i al‑Hādī, 1392 SH.
  • Muṭahharī, Murtazā. Khadamāt‑i mutaqābil‑i Iran va Islām. Qom: Intishārāt‑i Ṣadrā, 1390 SH.
  • Mūsawī Ardabīlī, Sayyid ʿAbd al‑Karīm. Fiqh al‑hudūd wa al‑taʿzīrāt. Qom: Jāmiʿat al‑Mufīd; Muʾassissat al‑Nashr, 1427 AH.
  • Mūsawī Bajnurdī, Sayyid Ḥasan. Al‑Qawāʿid al‑fiqhiyya. Qom: Nashr al‑Hādī, 1377 SH.
  • Najafī, Muḥammad Ḥasan al-. Jawāhir al‑kalām. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al‑Turāth al‑ʿArabī, 1362 SH.
  • Rāghib Isfahānī, Ḥusayn b. Muḥammad. Al‑Mufradāt fī gharīb al‑Qurʾān. Beirut: Dār al‑Qalam, 1412 AH.
  • Rūḥānī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ṣādiq. Fiqh al‑Ṣādiq. Qom: Intishārāt‑i Āʾīna‑yi Dānish, 1392 SH.
  • Rūḥānī, Maḥmūd. Al‑Muʿjam al‑Iḥṣāʾī. Mashhad: Āstān‑i Quds‑i Raḍawī, 1414 AH.
  • Sanduqdār, Zamān. Aḥkām‑i Kāfirān wa Murtaddān dar Fiqh‑i Islāmī. Kunfirāns‑i Millī Andīshi‑hā‑yi Nuwīn wa Khallāq dar Mudīrīyat, Hisābdārī, Mutāliʿāt‑i Ḥuqūqī wa Ijtimāʿī, 1397 SH.
  • Subhānī, Jaʿfar. Al‑Īmān wa al‑Kufr fī al‑Kitāb wa al‑Sunna. Qom: Muʾassasa‑yi Imām al-Ṣādiq (a), 1416 AH.
  • Subhānī, Jaʿfar. Niẓām al‑Qaḍāʾ wa al‑Shahāda fī al‑Sharīʿa al‑Islāmiyya al‑Gharāʾ. Qom: Muʾassasa‑yi Imām al-Ṣādiq (a), 1376 SH.
  • Sīstānī, Sayyid ʿAlī. Tawḍīḥ al‑Masāʾil. Qom: Intishārāt‑i Mihr, 1415 AH.
  • Shahīd al-Thānī, Zayn al‑Dīn b. ʿAlī al-. Al‑Rawḍat al‑bahiyya fī sharḥ al‑lumaʿat al‑Dimishqiyya. Commentary by Sayyid Muḥammad Kalāntar. Qom: Intishārāt‑i Dāwarī, 1410 AH.
  • Shahīd al-Thānī, Zayn al‑Dīn b. ʿAlī al-. Masālik al‑Ifhām. Qom: Muʾassasat al‑Maʿārif al‑Islāmiyya, 1413 AH.
  • Shaykh al-Bahā'ī, Muḥammad b. Ḥusayn. Ḥurmat dhabaʾiḥ Ahl al‑Kitāb. Beirut: Muʾassasat al‑Aʿlāmī li l‑Maṭbūʿāt, 1410 AH.
  • Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. Ḥasan al-. Al‑Khilāf. Qom: Muʾassasat al‑Nashr al‑Islāmī, 1407 AH.
  • Tabāṭabāʾī Yazdī, Sayyid Muḥammad Kāẓim. Al‑ʿUrwat al‑wuthqā. Qom: Muʾassasat al‑Nashr al‑Islāmī, 1st ed., 1417 AH.
  • Tabāṭabāʾī, Sayyid Muḥammad‑Ḥusayn. Al‑Mīzān fī tafsīr al‑Qurʾān. Qom: Intishārāt‑i Ismāʿīlīyān, 1363 SH.
  • Wahīd Khurāsānī, Ḥusayn. Tawḍīḥ al‑Masāʾil. Qom: Madrisa-yi Bāqir al‑ʿUlūm, 1421 AH.
  • Aḥkām‑i Kāfir. Official Website of Makārim Shirāzī. Accessed: 2025/12/11.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikishia.net/w/index.php?title=Kafir&oldid=198530"