Are Muslims who dignify non-Muslims by saying they are not infidels now infidels themselves?

Question

Fatwa - "Whoever does not believe that the kaafirs are kaafirs is himself a kaafir"
http://www.islam-qa.com/index.php?ref=6688&ln=eng&txt=force%20sex

"Al-Qaadi ‘Ayyaad said: hence we regard as a kaafir everyone who follows a religion other than the religion of the Muslims, or who agrees with them, or who has doubts, or who says that their way is correct, even if he appears to be a Muslim and believes in Islam and that every other way is false, he is a kaafir."

"The Jews and Christians are kuffaar and mushrikeen."

"Whoever says that the Jews are not kaafirs is disbelieving in the words of Allaah."

"Whoever says that the Christians are not kuffaar is disbelieving in the words of Allaah."

Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid

So Peace, let me process this for a minute...Abu Sufyan stopped being a 'kaffir' after he said the Shahada and converted to Islam?

Wow...Did you figure that out all on your own? By Allah, I could not be more wrong, and you could not be more right! :-)

Now run along and play.

But the Koran says "Luqud kuffara" of any Christian who believse in Jesus being the Son of God, or in the Trinity, translating as "He has covered" - or he has disbelieved. It says the same of Jews who believe that God's hand is tied, or 'Uzair is the Son of God, or other strange allegations against them in the Koran. When referring to "true" Jews and Christians who will go to heaven the Koran is talking about Jews who became Christians after Jesus, and Christians who became Muslim after Muhammad. And the sheikh refers very clearly to Jews and Christians, not people who are Muslim but don't know much about their religion, as kaffirs.

Answer 1

Yeah, doesn't represent mainstream Islam or the Quran in any way...

Answer 2

Under Islamic law, as a grateful payment for being allowed to live and be "protected," a Jewish or Christian dhimmi paid a special head tax and a special property tax, the edict for which came directly from the Koran: "Fight against those [Jews and Christians] who believe not in Allah ... until they pay the tribute readily, being brought low."

Omar, the caliph who succeeded Mohammed, delineated in his Charter of Omar the twelve laws under which a dhimmi, or non-Muslim, was allowed to exist as a "nonbeliever" among "believers." The Charter codified the conditions of life for Jews under Islam -- a life which was forfeited if the dhimmi broke this law. Among the restrictions of the Charter: Jews were forbidden to touch the Koran; forced to wear a distinctive (sometimes dark blue or black) habit with sash; compelled to wear a yellow piece of cloth as a badge (blue for Christians); not allowed to perform their religious practices in public; not allowed to own a horse, because horses were deemed noble; not permitted to drink wine in public; and required to bury their dead without letting their grief be heard by the Muslims.

Answer 3

Let's not complicate things.. I think of the word 'kaafir' as the Arabic word equivalent of the English word 'non-Muslim'. So basically it refers to Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists, and so on. Christians and Jews, however are known as People of the Book and so they are considered to be those who are the closest to us when it comes to their beliefs (besides other Muslims of course).

The word 'kufaar' literally means 'to cover' and in the Islamic sense a kufaar is someone who covers the truth about God and Islam. So a non-Muslim isn't necessarily a kufaar. I think the same rule applies to the word 'infidel'. How can a non-Muslim be faithful to a religion he was not taught about? To me an 'infidel' is someone who knows the truth about Islam but chooses not to be faithful to God and chooses to conceal truth.

Answer 4

I read somewhere back in the 1920s an exchange happened between Shiekh Tantawi (from Damascus, Syria and not to be mixed up with the one in Egypt) and Christian clergy. The Christian clergy considered the word Kafir derogatory and offensive to be used to brand Christians or Jews. Al Tantawi had an interesting answer to the Christian clergy, he asked him " if someone doesn't ascribe to the teaching of Christianity, wouldn't you brand him or her as kafir (from a Christian stand point)?" and the Christian clergy answered "yes", Tantawi said " so I'm a kafir from your Christian point of view much like you are a kafir from my Islamic point of view."

So Kafir (or kuffar) is a characterization of someone's belief based upon another belief.

Answer 5

Infidels? Why be so judgemental? Why can't people with different views on religion and life live in peace? Why is it your responsibility to judge other people? To discount someone and devalue their life based on their opinions and their religion is wrong. The only human life without value is life of those people who wish to do harm or destroy other human beings. We all live, breathe, experience joy, and feel pain. One persons life is not worth any less than anyone else's because of the religion that they were taught to believe or chose to believe. If you were born somewhere else you may be a Buddist. Learn tolerance.

Answer 6

A muslim cannot judge you as kafir even the greatest enemy of islam Abu Suffian was excused because he said la ilaha ila allah and Muhammad is the messenger of God. I am not a muslim but i have a brain i read the story of islam and thinking of joining

Answer 7

All of that "kuffaar" nonsense. That in itself is a message of intolerence. They are what they are. Only they themselves know the truth.

Answer 8

SO what;s your point? Thnking of converting?