Today is our Focus: WHO IS A KAFIR?
WHO IS A KAFIR?
The fact remains that all non-Muslims shall be treated as one group, alkufr millation wahada (all non-believers are one people) and all Muslims shall be counted one group as against them.
This remark was made by a leading Deoband cleric, Maulana T Shabbir Ahmad Usmani, during a meeting with Maulana Husain Ahmad Madni and other leaders of the Jamiatul Ulema on 7 December 1945.
The meeting took place after a group of Deoband clerics split from the parent organisation to support the Muslim League. The leaders of the Jamiatul Ulema tried to win back Maulana Usmani, but he stuck to his position and ruled out any cooperation with the Congress on the ground that it was a party comprising infidels who would make the Muslims of India their slaves after the departure of the British.
A perusal of the minutes of the meeting shows that ideologically both groups held similar views and their dispute was confined to the question whether their interests would be served better in a united India or in Pakistan.
This reference helps us understand the genesis of the current debate over the term ‘kafir’ and what it denotes. This is a terminology used by clerics.
The Quranic scheme and spirit present a totally different picture According to the Quran, divine guidance was sent to people everywhere through the apostles of whom some are named and others not
It says: ‘We did aforetime send apostles before you: of them there are some whose We have related to you and some whose story We have story not related to you (40.78) It further says that. “There never was a people without a warner having lived among them (in the past) (35.24)
The Quran says that worldly life is a life of tests and trials to see who among men act righteously and makes it clear that God is just and does not punish a people without first sending a ‘warner’ to them: ‘Never did We destroy a population but had its warners. By way of reminder, and We never are unjust (26.208-209) And since the purpose of apostolic mission is to instruct in wisdom and purify, it is done in a language that people understand.
The Quran says: ‘We sent not a Messenger except (to teach) in the language of his (own) people in order to make (things) clear to them (14.4)
The Quran also tells us that the only people who had not received a book or messenger earlier were the Arabs to whom was sent the last Prophet ‘But We had not given them Books which they could study nor sent apostles to them before you as warners (34.44).
Further, the Quran makes it obligatory to believe in all the books and all the apostles. It commands: ‘Say We believe in Allah and the revelation given to us and to Abraham, Ismail, Isaac Jacob and the Tribes and that given to Moses and Jesus and that given to (all) Prophets from their Lord, we make no difference between one and another of them and to him we have submitted (2.136) There are many other verses on the same subject repeatedly emphasising that ‘Say I am not an innovation among the apostles (46.9)’ and that ‘We have sent you inspiration (Wahi) as We sent it to Noah and the Messengers after him (4.163)
The Quran, unlike the clergy, acknowledges that all people have been recipients of divine guidance and use the term kafir for individuals and groups who deny the truth and arrogantly indulge in persecution and mischief. The Quran does not use the term kafir to describe any religious denomination or community.
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