What Does “Kāfir” Really Mean?

“Well, it depends on how you define kāfir — in my opinion, a kāfir is someone who… and therefore Christians, Jews, and others are not kāfirs.”

Whenever Muslims hear the violent and inhumane verses of the Quran regarding the slaughter of and brutal treatment of polytheists and unbelievers, they reinvent themselves as the Prophet and fabricate a new intent for God the Almighty. Your interpretation is respected — but we have no quarrel with the Islam you have prophesied. We take issue with the Islam of Muhammad and his Quran, which defines the kāfir as follows.

Chapter One — Identifying the Kāfir, Ahl al-Kitāb, and the Polytheist

1. The lexical meaning of kufr and its applications

2. The nine Quranic meanings of kufr

   1. Denial of the principles of religion

   2. Denial of divine unity (tawḥīd)

   3. Denial of the prophethood of Muhammad

   4. Denial of ṭāghūt (transgressive authority)

   5. Ingratitude for God’s blessings (kufrān al-niʿma)

   6. Abandonment of religious obligations

   7. Commission of sin

   8. Revulsion and disavowal (barāʾa)

   9. Agriculture

3. The five meanings of kufr in hadith literature

4. The five meanings of kufr and kāfir in Shia jurisprudence

§ 1 — Lexical Meaning of Kufr

Although this study focuses specifically on the Ahl al-Kitāb (People of the Book) and polytheists, Shia jurists consistently include them under the category of kāfir — listed among ritual impurities (najāsāt) in their practical treatises. It is therefore essential to clarify the concept from the outset.

According to Arab lexicographers, kufr has one overarching primary meaning: concealment (al-sitr). All secondary meanings are derived from this root concept, including:

1. Kufr as antithesis of faith — concealing and denying truths such as God, the Resurrection, prophethood, and revealed scripture.

2. Ingratitude for blessings — ignoring or misusing God’s gifts; the antithesis of gratitude.

3. The night — which casts a dark veil over all things.

4. Agriculture / the farmer — who conceals seed beneath the soil; hence kāfir = farmer.

5. Donning armour — a soldier who covers his body with a coat of mail.

This analysis is corroborated by the major Arab lexicographers: Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī (al-Mufradāt), Ibn Fāris (Muʿjam Maqāyīs al-Lugha), Ibn Manẓūr (Lisān al-ʿArab), al-Jawharī (Ṣiḥāḥ al-Lugha), al-Zabīdī (Tāj al-ʿArūs), and al-Ṭurayḥī (Majmaʿ al-Baḥrayn).

§ 2 — The Nine Quranic Meanings of Kufr

The word appears more than five hundred times in the Quran in various grammatical forms. Based on its lexical root, it is used in nine distinct senses:

1. Denial of the Principles of Religion

This form of kufr applies to atheists, freethinkers, and materialists who wholesale reject the metaphysical. Example verses:

• “How can you deny God, when you were lifeless and He gave you life…?” (Al-Baqara 2:28)

• “Nothing prevented their contributions from being accepted except that they disbelieved in God…” (Al-Tawba 9:54)

• “Those who disbelieve in God and His messengers…” (Al-Nisāʾ 4:150)

• “Those are the ones who disbelieved in the signs of their Lord and His meeting…” (Al-Kahf 18:105)

• “…Whoever disbelieves in God, His angels, His books, His messengers, and the Last Day has certainly gone far astray.” (Al-Nisāʾ 4:136)

2. Denial of Divine Unity (Tawḥīd)

In this sense kufr equals shirk (polytheism) and includes dualists, trinitarians, idol-worshippers, and polytheistic factions within the People of the Book.

• “They have certainly disbelieved who say ‘God is the third of three’…” (Al-Māʾida 5:73)

• “They have certainly disbelieved who say ‘God is the Messiah, son of Mary’…” (Al-Māʾida 5:17, 72)

3. Denial of the Prophethood of Muhammad

This encompasses all non-Muslims — including followers of other revealed religions.

• “Those who disbelieve say: ‘You are not a messenger’…” (Al-Raʿd 13:43)

• “Neither those who disbelieve among the People of the Book, nor the polytheists, wish that any good should be sent down to you from your Lord…” (Al-Baqara 2:105)

4. Denial of Ṭāghūt (Transgressive Power)

This is a praiseworthy form of kufr — rejecting false gods and tyrannical powers is a prerequisite of true faith. “Lā ilāha” (there is no god) precedes “illā Allāh” (but God).

• “Whoever disbelieves in ṭāghūt and believes in God has grasped the most trustworthy handhold…” (Al-Baqara 2:256)

5. Ingratitude for Blessings (Kufrān al-Niʿma)

The antithesis of gratitude — squandering God’s gifts or using them in ways contrary to His will.

• “If you are grateful, I will surely increase you; but if you are ungrateful, My punishment is indeed severe.” (Ibrāhīm 14:7)

• “This is from the favour of my Lord — to test me whether I will be grateful or ungrateful…” (Al-Naml 27:40)

• “Remember Me — I will remember you. Give thanks to Me and do not be ungrateful.” (Al-Baqara 2:152)

• “…So God made it taste the garment of hunger and fear…” (Al-Naḥl 16:112)

6. Abandonment of Religious Obligations

The Quran designates the wilful abandonment of obligations such as the ḥajj as a form of kufr.

• “Pilgrimage to the House is a duty to God for whoever is able to find a way to it. And whoever disbelieves — indeed, God is free from need of the worlds.” (Āl ʿImrān 3:97)

7. Commission of Sin

In several instances the Quran labels prohibited acts — such as sorcery or crimes against innocent people — as kufr.

• “They followed what the devils recited over Solomon’s kingdom — but Solomon did not disbelieve; it was the devils who disbelieved, teaching people sorcery…” (Al-Baqara 2:102)

• “…Then do you believe in part of the Scripture and deny part?…” (Al-Baqara 2:85)

8. Revulsion and Disavowal (Barāʾa)

• “…On the Day of Resurrection some of you will deny others, and some of you will curse others, and your refuge will be the Fire…” (Al-ʿAnkabūt 29:25)

• “…We have disowned you, and enmity and hatred have appeared between us and you forever, until you believe in God alone…” (Al-Mumtaḥana 60:4)

• “Satan said [on the Day of Judgement]: …’I disown your previous act of associating me with God’…” (Ibrāhīm 14:22)

9. Agriculture

In a single instance the Quran uses kufr in its original sense of “burying seed in the ground,” applying the term kuffār to farmers:

• “Know that the life of this world is but amusement and diversion… like rain whose resulting plant growth pleases the kuffār (farmers), then it withers and you see it turned yellow…” (Al-Ḥadīd 57:20)

In the Light of the Infallible Imam

Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq was asked by the narrator Zubayrī to explain the meanings of kufr in the Quran. The Imam’s response — recorded in Uṣūl al-Kāfī (Vol. 2, Bāb Wujūh al-Kufr, p. 389) — distils these meanings into five categories:

1. Kufr of denial (juḥūd) — outright rejection of God’s lordship; the creed of those who say there is no God, no paradise, no hellfire.

2. Conscious denial — rejecting that which one already knows to be true, out of arrogance: “they denied Our signs, while they were certain of them.”

3. Ingratitude for blessings — misusing God’s gifts and failing to give thanks, as illustrated by Solomon’s words in Q. 27:40.

4. Abandoning divine commandments — failing to fulfil obligations God has prescribed, as in Q. 2:85 regarding the Israelites’ selective observance.

5. Revulsion and disavowal (barāʾa) — renouncing others, as Abraham renounced his polytheist community (Q. 60:4) and as Iblīs renounced his followers on the Day of Judgement.

The Imam concludes with a critical methodological caution: the legal rulings (aḥkām) specific to each category of kufr must not be applied to individuals who fall only under a different category. For example, Jews and Christians are kāfir in the third sense (denial of Muhammad’s prophethood) but not in the first sense (denial of God). The Quranic verses addressing unbelievers in the first sense must not, therefore, be applied to the People of the Book.

§ 3 — The Five Meanings of Kufr in Hadith Literature

The usage of kufr in hadith closely mirrors its Quranic usage, since the Prophet and the Imams are regarded as authoritative interpreters of revelation. Across more than five thousand instances in Biḥār al-Anwār, five categories emerge:

1. Denial of God’s Unity or Attributes

Encompasses all atheists, materialists, polytheists, and agnostics.

• “Whoever asserts anthropomorphism or absolute determinism is a kāfir.” — Biḥār al-Anwār, vol. 5, p. 35

• “Doubt is itself kufr.” — vol. 21, p. 211

2. Denial of Prophethood (General or Specific)

Includes those who reject any revealed scripture, such as Jews and Christians.

• “Whoever rejects the Book of God is a kāfir.” — vol. 25, p. 121

• “Who are the unbelievers?” — “Those who disbelieve in my grandfather, the Messenger of God.” — vol. 47, p. 358

3. Denial of the Resurrection or Its Details

Some traditions count believers in transmigration of souls (tanāsukh) among unbelievers.

• “Whoever believes in the transmigration of souls is a kāfir.” — vol. 4, p. 320

4. Denial of the Imamate

A substantial body of traditions declares denial of the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib or any of the Twelve Imams to be a form of kufr. This includes disputing ʿAlī’s right to the caliphate, doubting the legitimacy of any Imam, or failing to recognise the Imam of one’s era.

5. Commission of Sin

The majority of hadith employing the term relate to specific transgressions, including:

• “Whoever dares to commit grave sins is a kāfir.” — vol. 72, p. 222

• “The abandonment of prayer is what separates the Muslim from the kāfir.” — vol. 35, p. 155

• “One who abandons taqiyya is a kāfir.” — vol. 78, p. 347

• “One who can afford ḥajj and neglects it is a kāfir.” — vol. 77, p. 58

• “The drinker of wine is a kāfir.” — vol. 79, p. 141

• “The sorcerer is a kāfir.” — vol. 79, p. 212

• “Whoever calls his [Muslim] brother an unbeliever — one of the two has thereby committed kufr.” — vol. 10, p. 102

§ 4 — The Five Categories of Kāfir in Shia Jurisprudence

Following the Quran and hadith, Shia jurists apply the term kāfir to five groups (with some scholarly disagreement):

1. Deniers of God, or materialists

2. Polytheists

3. Followers of other revealed religions — Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians (the People of the Book)

4. Those who knowingly deny an established necessity of religion — including Khārijites, Nāṣibīs, and certain extremist sects (ghulāt)

5. Deniers of the Imamate

Shia jurists are unanimous regarding the first three groups. On the fourth, opinion is divided: some scholars consider all sub-categories both unbelievers and ritually impure; others accept their ritual impurity while declining to declare them unbelievers outright; a minority disputes even their impurity. Regarding the fifth group, while most Shia jurists refrain from labelling deniers of the Imamate as kāfir in the full technical sense, a small number do so on the grounds that rejection of the Imamate constitutes concealment of a fundamental religious truth. In practice, the term kāfir in Shia jurisprudence is effectively confined to the first four categories.

Conclusion: Accordingly — and in light of the above scholarship, celebrated as a pinnacle of Islamic intellectual achievement — a kāfir is, at its broadest, anyone who is not a Muslim. No amount of rebranding, apologetics, or cosmetic revision can alter this foundational definition as inscribed within Islam’s own canonical sources.

References

1. Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī, al-Mufradāt fī Gharīb al-Qurʾān, p. 433

2. Ibn Fāris, Muʿjam Maqāyīs al-Lugha, vol. 5, p. 91

3. Ibn Manẓūr, Lisān al-ʿArab, vol. 5, p. 144

4. Al-Jawharī, Ṣiḥāḥ al-Lugha, vol. 2, p. 807

5. Al-Zabīdī, Tāj al-ʿArūs, vol. 3, p. 535

6. Al-Ṭurayḥī, Majmaʿ al-Baḥrayn, vol. 3, p. 474

7. Uṣūl al-Kāfī, vol. 2, Bāb Wujūh al-Kufr, p. 389

8. Biḥār al-Anwār (various volumes — see footnotes 29–47 in original)