Kafir al-muhadin
Al-Kāfir al-muhādin (Arabic:الکافِر المُهادِن, lit: non-hostile unbeliever)[1] refers to a category of unbelievers who are neither at war with Muslims nor bound to them by a "dhimma" or "aman" pact.[2] These unbelievers maintain peaceful relations with Muslims.[3] Jurists such as Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah and Nasir Makarim Shirazi, drawing on Qur'anic verses 8–9 of Qur'an 60 and verse 90 of Qur'an 4, have encouraged fairness and benevolence toward such non-hostile unbelievers and have regarded their life, property, and honor as inviolable.[4]
In Islamic jurisprudence, the categorization of kuffar (unbelievers) remained, up until the fifteenth/twenty-first century, largely confined to two groups: the harbi unbeliever (a belligerent enemy) and the dhimmi unbeliever (one living under a dhimma pact).[5] However, some Shi'a jurists in the current century, drawing on Qur'anic verses related to jihad, introduced the "kafir muhadin" (a neutral unbeliever) as a third category.[6]
Notes
- ↑ Makārim Shirāzī, al‑Fatāwā al‑Jadīda, vol. 1, p. 314.
- ↑ Makārim Shirāzī, Aḥkām‑i Kāfir. Official Website.
- ↑ Makārim Shirāzī, al‑Fatāwā al‑Jadīda, vol. 1, p. 314; Faḍlullāh, Tafsīr min waḥy al‑Qurʾān, vol. 3, p. 241.
- ↑ Faḍlullāh, Tafsīr min waḥy al‑Qurʾān, vol. 3, p. 241; Makārim Shirāzī, al‑Fatāwā al‑Jadīda, vol. 1, p. 314; Makārim Shirāzī, Aḥkām‑i Kāfir. Official Website.
- ↑ Ibn‑Zuhra, Ghunyat al‑nuzūʿ, p. 203; Ṭūsī, al‑Nihāya, p. 291-292.
- ↑ Makārim Shirāzī, Aḥkām‑i Kāfir. Official Website; Fāḍil Lankrānī, Distinguish primary rulings from secondary categories in dealings with unbelievers.
References
- Fāḍil Lankrānī, Muhammad‑Jawād. In matters of interacting with unbelievers, we must distinguish between primary rulings and secondary classifications (Persian). Accessed: 2025/12/06.
- Faḍlullāh, Sayyid Muhammad‑Ḥusayn. Tafsīr min waḥy al‑Qurʾān. Beirut: Dār al‑Mulūk li‑ṭ‑ṭibāʿat wa al‑nashr wa al‑tawzīʿ, 1439 AH.
- Ibn‑Zuhra, Ḥamzah b. ʿAlī. Ghunyat al‑nuzūʿ ilā ʿilmī al‑uṣūl wa al‑furūʿ. Edited by Ibrāhīm Bahādurī. Qom: Muʾassasa Imām Ṣādiq (a), 1417 AH.
- Makārim Shirāzī, Nāṣir. Al‑Fatāwā al‑Jadīda. 2nd edition. Qom: Madrasa al‑Imām ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, 1385 Sh.
- Makārim Shirāzī, Nāṣir. Aḥkām‑i Kāfir. Official Website of Āyatullāh al‑ʿUẓmā Makārim Shirāzī (Persian). Accessed: 2025/12/06.
- Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. Ḥasan al-. Al‑Nihāya fī mujarrad al‑fiqh wa al‑fatwā. Beirut: Dār al‑Kutub al‑ʿArabīya, 1400 AH.