What is “kafir” exactly?
A kafir is a non-Muslim not to be confused soley with someone who doesn’t believe in God although that is included. Kafir (Arabic: كافر kāfir; plural كفّار kuffār) is an Arabic word meaning “rejecter” or “ingrate”. In the Islamic doctrinal sense, the term refers to a person who does not recognize God (Allah) or the prophethood of Muhammad (i.e., any non-Muslim) or who hides, denies, or covers the “truth”. The islamic law (sharia) distinguishes three types of kafirs: 1) kafir dhimmi, a non-Muslim subject of a state governed in accordance with sharia law 2) kafir harbi, a non-Muslim living in a non-Muslim country, and 3) kafir musta’min, a harbi visiting a Muslim country for less than a year. Although from an Islamic perspective it has no derogatory roots in cultural terms, it is seen as a derogatory term used to describe an unbeliever, non-Muslims, apostate from Islam and even between Muslims of different sects. It is usually translated into English as “infidel” or “unbeliever”. There i
