Be Careful who you call a Kafir

[Samira]

Be Careful who you call a Kafir

by Fareena Alam (NOT Faria Alam!!)
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Now before I post the article, I want shaukat to know: I DID NOT POST THIS FOR YOUR BENEFIT!!!

Rather, it's because I do not want to see the Muslims here destroying themselves by their own hands.

Now it occcured to me, that perhaps there may be some muslims (and i do not mean this to anyone in particular -yet) who may have such enmity and hatred towards the ahle sunnah that they will go to the length of saying such things as to make them shout out: kaafir! heretic!. Now even Qadis can't make judgements in anger, so fellow brothers and sisters, do not let certain people provoke you to say such things as could push you towards kufr yourselves! Ask yourself, are they really worth it?

One last peice of advice, as Muhammad sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam said, when the dajjal arrives, all muslims should stay away from him, because he will definitely lull you into believing him. Likewise, if someone is spreading fitnah, and they do not pay attention to your call to islam, or even continue to spread their fitnah, I would say just avoid them, they'll probably soon get the message.
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"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." The Holy Quran,02 : 06Al Baqarah
Abdullah Yusuf Ali's commentary: Kufr, Kafara, Kafir, and derivative forms of the word, imply a deliberate rejection of Faith as opposed to a mistaken idea of Allah or faith, which is not consistent with an ernest desire to see the truth. Where there is sch desire, the Grace and Mercy of Allah gives guidance. But that guidance is not efficacious when it is deliberately rejected, and the possibility of rejection follows from the grant of free will. The consequence of the rejection is that spiritual faculties become dead or impervious to better influence.

Be careful who you call Kafir because only Allah knows who is truly a rejector and who is merely a misguided person. It is not up to us to "sentence" a person to the Hellfire.
We must always maintain courtesy, diplomacy and a never-dying zeal to convey the message to others no matter how discouraging or useless it may seem - don't give up on a non-muslim because most people are good people who simply need a break from the anti-Islamic propaganda around them.

The Fastest Way to Leave Islam

It is always safest to assume that a non-muslim has been misguided, misinformed and fed lies and misconceptions about Islam and Muslims - don't jump to calling him a Kafir. Remove the name-calling from your articles and websites - wouldn't you rather be safe than sorry - name-calling, especially wrongly branding someone as 'evil', 'kafr' and 'manifestation of satan' - GHEEBOT - could entail dire consequences for us on Judgement Day.

Perhaps there is no faster way to leave Islam than by calling other Muslims "kafir" or "mushrik" without discrimination.

About calling other Muslims "kafir," we read the following hadith: It is reported on the authority of Ibn `Umar that the Prophet (may peace and blessings be upon him) said: Any person who calls his brother: O Unbeliever! (then the truth of this label) would return to one of them. If it is true, (then it is) as he asserted, (but if it is not true), then it returns to him (and thus the person who made the accusation is an Unbeliever). [Muslim]

Therefore, if you call other Muslims "kafir" or "mushrik" without discrimination, you could find that you have left Islam, according to the words of the Prophet (s.a.w.), in less than a second.

Waste no time debating what a good Muslim should be. Be one!

Guiding a Non-Muslim to Islam only possible by the Grace of God. Our job is to help others understand Islam - that is our basic duty. And only then inshallah, will non-muslims move in the direction of becoming one of us. We must remain positive, open-minded and generous in our efforts to convey the true message.

You cannot encourage a non-muslim to be understanding and open-minded if you yourself are hot-tempered and hurling accusations at him/her. No non-muslim is going to respect you and it will certainly reflect badly on Islam if a Muslim, a representative of Islam, is narrow-minded.

I pray to Allah that we develop patience and sincerity in our efforts to bring about more tolerance in this world. Remember....every human being, regardless of whether he/she is born to Muslim or Non-Muslim parents, is born innocent and pure...it is society that influences him/her to stray from Islam and just as a person can stray, he/she can revert back and YOU can help this process.

We have a very important and sensitive role to play. We are the trusted Ummah of the Rasool, a servant of God...it has been made our duty and our obligation to pass on the pure, unadulterated truth - make honest and full use of this honourable task.

Allah SWT tells us in the Quran Surat An Na7l (bees) aya125

ِﺔَﻤْﻜِﺤْﻟﺎِﺑ َﻚِّﺑَﺭ ِﻞﻴِﺒَﺳ ﻰِﻟِﺇ ُﻉْﺩﺍ
َﻚَّﺑَﺭ َّﻥِﺇ ُﻦَﺴْﺣَﺃ َﻲِﻫ ﻲِﺘَّﻟﺎِﺑ ﻢُﻬْﻟِﺩﺎَﺟَﻭ ِﺔَﻨَﺴَﺤْﻟﺍ ِﺔَﻈِﻋْﻮَﻤْﻟﺍَﻭ
125 َﻦﻳِﺪَﺘْﻬُﻤْﻟﺎِﺑ ُﻢَﻠْﻋَﺃ َﻮُﻫَﻭ ِﻪِﻠﻴِﺒَﺳ ﻦَﻋ َّﻞَﺿ ﻦَﻤِﺑ ُﻢَﻠْﻋَﺃ َﻮُﻫ

125Call to the Path of your Lord with wisdom and fine admonition. Dispute with them in the best manner. Your Lord is well aware of those who have gone astray from His Path and He is well aware of those who are guided.
may Allah SWT guide us to the straight path inshallah.

[Usayd Salah ad-Din]

salaam,

Excellent post! well done!

Allah Hafiz.

[gag order]

in the case of shaukat he exposed himself as a kaafir, i was only stating the obvious and proven my hypothesis that if you give a shia enough rope he will hang himself.

[Abuz Zubair]

As-Salaamu 'Alaikum,

I cannot agree more with the author that if the purpose of Da'wah is to guide people to the truth, then being harsh, intolerant and narrow-minded defeats that objective. Ibn al-Qayyim expressed very beautifully in his Bada'i al-Fawa'id, how the prophets would refer to their people with the softest of words such as "Oh my people!", and how politely would Ibrahim refer to his father, and that he would not be arrogant with him, knowing that he is on complete falsehood. Rather, he would refer to him as "O my father" and claim that some knowledge has reached him which hasn't reached his father, instead of saying: "Dad, you are ignorant, and you must follow me!"

However, we must not let our soft approach, gentleness and diplomacy erode the very core and traditional principles of our religion. For example, it is our traditional belief that Islam is the only true religion; and we must not let ourselves come under pressure and feel forced to be apologetic and say: "There may be truth in other religions too, and a person may find his way to Allah, and paradise through a religion other than Islam".

Similarly, we must preserve our fundamental traditional belief that human kind is divided into three main groups:
1) Muslim
2) Kafir (non-Muslim)
3) Munafiq

There is no fourth category. A person can either be a Muslim, and if he isn't he must fall into one of the last two categories. So if a person does not identify himself to be a Muslim, he is regarded to be a Kafir, and if he does identify himself to be a Muslim, but disbelieves in Islam in his heart, then he is a Munafiq and the knowledge of that is with Allah.

The respected author of the above article quotes the Quranic verse:
"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." (2:6)

For explanation of this verse, she refers to Yusuf Ali's comments, who – in spite of his great efforts in translation and commentary – was not a scholar of any types of Tafseer, and his footnotes to Quranic verses are hardly a reference point in the science of Tafseer. Moreover, I feel that his comment to this verse has been taken out of context, for his comments should be restricted to the very verse he is trying to explain. This is because he is explaining the phrase 'those who disbelieve', in this particular verse, that they will never be guided, regardless of whether they have been warned or not. Not that a Kafir is the one who wilfully rejects Islam after knowing the truth. Even if Yusuf Ali (may Allah be merciful with him) intended the former meaning, then it clearly goes against consensus of the entire Ummah from the beginning of Islam until our time.

Looking into the traditional books of Tafseer, we find a different picture than what has been painted here by the respected author. Al-Qurtubi says while explaining this verse: "al-Kufr is the opposite of Iman (faith) and that is the intended meaning in the verse". Whereas other classical Tafseer scholars such as al-Tabari say that the meaning of the word "Kafaru" in this particular context is those who actually reject faith, because the verse was revealed in relation to the rabbis of Madinah for their rejection of the Prophethood of Muhammad (SallAllahu 'Alaihi wa-sallam), in spite of them recognising him as they would recognise their sons. Hence, if we know who Allah is referring to in this particular verse, it is easy to understand why they would never be guided. Perhaps, the best I have read in regards to this verse is Ibn al-Jawzi's commentary, quoting from his Sheikh that the verse was revealed very general in its wording, but more specific in its meaning. This is because the verse announces that when a Kafir is warned, he does not believe, whereas many of the Kuffar have believed upon being warned. For if the generality of the wording was the intended meaning, then Allah's information regarding the Kuffar would be contrary to the reality. Therefore, it becomes necessary to resort to the restricted meaning. – End of quote.

However, what one would not find in any of the classical Tafseer books, is the interpretation being suggested in the article, that Kafir are only those who wilfully reject Islam after knowing the truth, and not those non-Muslims who may have been misinformed by the media.

There is another important issue which the respected author briefly touches upon, about which many Muslims seem to be confused, is that not everyone who we may identify as a Kafir is destined to the fire of Hell. This is a very common misconception amongst many, which is echoed in the author's statement when she says: "Be careful who you call Kafir because only Allah knows who is truly a rejector and who is merely a misguided person. It is not up to us to "sentence" a person to the Hellfire."

Identifying someone as a Muslim itself is no guarantee that the person will enter Paradise, and likewise identifying someone as a Kafir does not mean the person is sentenced to the fire of Hell. For example, a Kafir may be mentally disabled, or might not have heard anything about Islam. Such people might enter paradise because Allah does not punish anyone until after establishing His proofs against him or her. True, there may be a great debate amongst the scholars as to what is exactly meant by 'establishment of proofs' is it that one merely hears about Islam, or that one truly comprehends the message of Islam? But this is only to do with the punishment and reward in the hereafter, whereas the issue at hand is only an issue of identification.

The article also suggests that calling a non-Muslim a Kafir is name-calling. However, this is not how we've traditionally perceived it over the centuries, or at least Allah hasn't been 'name-calling' the Kuffar of Quraish and others by saying: "Say: O you Kafirun". Just as we identify ourselves as Muslims, we identify non-Muslims as Kuffar. These terminologies have been used throughout Islamic history in the books of Fiqh of four well-established classical Madhabs, and even in those books Kafir is the one who is not a Muslim, and there is no reason or justification redefine our traditional beliefs and values in the post 9/11 world.

This is more of an issue of identity than a petty issue of name-calling. Indeed, there is no meaning to us being Muslims, if we do not know who the Kuffar are, and hence, identifying the Kuffar is an important ingredient of our own identity as British Muslims.

As for calling Muslims Kuffar without any justification, then there is nothing as clear as the Hadeeth of the Prophet (SalAllahu 'Alaihi wa-sallam). However, due to other textual evidence, we know the intended meaning in the Hadeeth is not the Kufr which expels one from Islam, but it is the lesser Kufr. So even if one errs, and ends up calling a Muslim 'Kafir' without any justification, then surely he is guilty of a major sin. However, he still remains within the fold of Islam.

Having said that, it is worth noting that falling into Kufr and Shirk is more dangerous than calling a Muslim 'Kafir' without justification. This is why we need to strike a balance between 'Takfeer' and warning people against Kufr and Shirk.

It is true that after 9/11 attacks Islam has come under attack militarily, economically and most importantly, ideologically. It is equally true that Muslims have not been the best representatives and ambassadors of Islam to this country, and that we must rectify ourselves, question our approach in Da'wah and do our best to fulfil our role as law abiding citizens of this country, but not at the cost of our beliefs, values and convictions which we hold dearer than our lives with wealth.

I would be grateful if someone could convey this reply to the honourable author.

Was-salamu 'alaikum

[alburkaan]

Assalamu alaykum

Good post brother Abuz Zubair. One thing I wanted to ask was that (which might be slightly off topic), if for example you come accross someone who is worshipping graves you can't brand him a mushrik right away even though what he is doing is an act of shirk. Reason is he may have been brought up that way believing it is from Islam. He has to be shown the proofs first. Correct? (just confirming because some people seem to disagree)

[Samira]

Well, according to ibn Abdul Wahhab, anyone who even goes to a grave of a pious Muslim and talks to him is a mushrik, right? :x Despite the fact that his own book describes Muhammad SAW talking to the dead in their graves.

As to your question, then it's best to get the opinion of a scholar. But yes, you should still be very careful.