Download On being “kafir” (13/8)

Friday, Aug 13, 2010
On being “kafir”
By Asghar ali
IN a recent plane crash in Pakistan, a Hindu youth who was a member of Youth Parliament, Pakistan, died
and apparently someone wrote ‘kafir’ on his coffin which ignited a controversy.
Many Pakistanis condemned the action and instead wrote ‘We love you’, a humane thing to do. Nevertheless
it shows how many Muslims treat non-Muslims as kafir. It is, therefore, necessary to throw some light on the issue.
The need is to understand the word ‘kafir’ etymologically, historically as well as theologically. First let us
understand its meaning. ‘Kafara’ literally means ‘he hid’ and therefore, according to Imam Raghib in his classic work
Mufradat al-Quran, a peasant is also called kafir as he hides the seeds beneath the soil for growing crop; night is also
called kafir as it hides light.
Theologically it came to mean those who hide the truth. Every prophet brought truth from Allah; those who
accepted it were called believers and those who did not kafir as they hid the truth. But according to the Quran those
who believe in previous prophets sent by Allah are also believers as those prophets also came with the truth from
Allah. Since the truth from Allah was contained in the book given to them they were also called ahl al-kitab (people of
the book).
Some of them have been mentioned in the Quran but many have not been named. According to the Quran, the
list of the prophets named is illustrative, not exhaustive. Muslims believe there came some 124,000 prophets and the
Quran says Allah has sent a guide (haad) for every nation. Thus, if there is no mention of a nation or the book they
were given it should not automatically mean that the people of that faith have hidden the truth and so they are kafir.
Mazher Jan-i-Janan, an eminent Sufi saint of 18th century Delhi, was asked by one of his disciples if Hindus
who worship idols should be condemned as kafir. Jan-i-Janan wrote back a well-thought-out reply. He said that
Hindus, according to their Shashtras (holy books) believe in God who is nirankar and nirgun (i.e. without form and
attributes) and this is the highest form of tauhid (i.e. unity of God). Their holy books do not mention idol worship.
Then he referred to the Quranic verse that every nation had been sent a guide; he argued as to how could Allah
forget a great nation like Hindustan and not send His guide there. Maybe Ram and Krishna who are highly respected
by Hindus were such guides. He maintained that we cannot say that Hindus do not believe in the truth, as they also
call Ishwar (God) Satyam (Truth).
As Dara Shikoh also points out in his Majma al-Bahrayn (Confluence of Two Oceans) Hindus call Ishwar
Satyam, Shivam and Sundaram (Truth, Almighty and Beautiful), and all these three names of Allah are in the Quran,
i.e. Haq, Jabbar and Jamil.
Jan-i-Janan also argued theologically that Hindus are believers in one God and cannot be called hiders of the
truth or kafir. As for idol worship, he gives a very interesting explanation. He maintains that it is a popular practice as
common people find it difficult to imagine a god who is formless and without attributes and they need some concrete
object for worship and hence they carve out some shape and see the reflection of Ishwar in it. What they worship,
according to Jan-i-Janan, is not the piece of stone but Ishwar through it.
Then he gave the example of Sufis who needed help of a master (a sheikh) to reach Allah. Without the
intervention of a sheikh, a Sufi disciple cannot reach Allah, they believe, unlike the more puritan Islamic creed. Thus,
for a common Hindu an idol replaces a sheikh, an intervener. Also, many lay Muslims go and pray at graves of Sufi
saints and seek their intervention.
It is important to note that Mazher Jan-i-Janan does not take the rigid position that Hindus are kafir but tries to
understand their religious faith and the common Hindu psychology as to why they worship idols. All this is available
in the letter written by Jan-i-Janan to one of his disciples.
Also, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad has quoted several passages from the Vedas in his volume on Wahdat-i-Din
of Tarjuman al-Quran to argue for the essential unity of all religions. Shah Waliullah, too, in his classic work Hujjat
Allah al-Balighah treats comprehensively the doctrine of unity of religion.
Historically speaking, the Quran applies the term ‘kafir’ to those in Makkah who not only rejected
Muhammad’s (PBUH) prophethood and mission but also actively opposed him; they persecuted him and his
Friday, Aug 13, 2010
followers, thus opposing and actively hiding the message he had brought. Among them was the Prophet’s uncle, Abu
Lahab, who led the campaign against the Prophet. However, there were those who remained neutral, and Muslims
entered into covenants with them and got their cooperation.
Thus, the term ‘kafir’ must be applied with much caution and not to every non-believer in Islam. Every
human being must be treated with dignity whatever way he/she believes in the truth. The truth has different
manifestations in different cultures, and Islam makes that allowance unequivocally. ¦
The writer is an Islamic scholar who also heads the Centre for Study of Society & Secularism, Mumbai.