FSIP1 Ep2 Sh. Fadel Soliman Islamophobia 1 - Ep2, Kafir, kufr,

[This is a transcript, which is more or less, not exactly and not completely verbatim from this → YouTube presentation. We found it worth it.
Allah knows best and most!]

Never call anyone a non-believer!

In the whole of Quran non-Muslims were called non-believers only twice.

1st situation - in one of those instances it is the Angels who say this on the day of judgement.

{ O you who have disbelieved, make no excuses that Day. You will only be recompensed for what you used to do.} 66-07

Saying you had become non-believers after you had become believers…

2nd situation: - when someone tries us to renounce faith: Sura al Kafirun:

{ Say: O ye that reject Faith (disbelievers)! I worship not that which ye worship…} Sura 104

Other than that the Quran addresses the non-believers with the most beautiful names. (nās - people; Banū Israil - children of prophet)

Furthermore the word kafir is not an insult. It is a description of a status, a state of mind regarding a certain context.

Always when there's a certain concept one is always either believer in it or a non believer in it. ( 2-256: { disbeliever in the Evil one} - in the sense of taking him as Lord.) ( 40-84 { we disbelieve in the idols} - on the day of judgement.) ( 60-4 { we have become non believers in you.}

So to be a Muslim I must also be a non-believer: in something else. People are either believers in Islam or non-believers in Islam, but still we should not address them as non-believers.

(Using the same argument when talking to a Christian I am a non-believer in his religion = a kafir in his religion and there is nothing wrong with it.)

Responsibilities Towards Non-Muslims

So what are our responsibilities towards non-Muslims?
To be exceedingly kind and compassionate (birr) and just with those who did not fight you on account of your religion or try to drive you out of your homes:

{ Allah does not forbid you from those who do not fight you because of religion and do not expel you from your homes - from being righteous toward them and acting justly toward them. Indeed, Allah loves those who act justly.} 60-8

- so to be kind, compassionate and just to those non-Muslims or non-believers!

birr is mentioned in the Quran regarding the two situations:
a.) In dealing with our parents
b.) In dealing with peaceful non-Muslims - who are living amongst us.

What does birr or exceeding kindness list actually mean?

It is for a Muslim to relinquish - for the sake of his parents - some of the rights which would otherwise be due to him.

So here Allah is imploring Muslims to treat non-Muslims with exceeding kindness - birr - towards parents and towards peaceful non-Muslims who live among them.

On the other hand { Allah forbids you from those who fought you on account of your religion and drove you out of your homes and aided in your expulsion } and: He forbids you from making them your allies.

{ Allah only forbids you from those who fight you because of religion and expel you from your homes and aid in your expulsion - [forbids] that you make allies of them. And whoever makes allies of them, then it is those who are the wrongdoers.} 60-9

So as a Muslim I cannot be friends with those who fight me on account of my religion or aided others fighting me and I think that's quite logical.

We don't have to concern ourselves with God's relationship with them, that's not our concern.

VERY IMPORTANT POINT: Whether they believe in his existence or not, whether they worship him or not, should not affect the relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims so long as they are not hostile or oppressive towards Muslims.

Extremists With Misconstrued Understanding

HOWEVER, the problem arises when extremists and other ill-informed fanatics - misguided Muslims telling them that anyone who is a kāfir or an unbeliever should be fought. This is a misconstrued understanding of Islam, this only poisons the minds of those unfortunate Muslim, who are naive and ignorant enough to believe such claims and it consequently gives a negative image of Islam with those people who think that Muslims have the right given by the Quran [to fight/ kill], this gives a negative image to non-Muslims who often believe therefore that Muslims have the the right according to the Quran to mistreat [others].[1]

Next Issue - Salvation In Islam

Am I guaranteed to go directly to heaven? Just because I'm a believer? Actually Islam is the only religion in the world which guarantees hell to its followers if they don't accompany their faith with virtuous deeds.

It's like a bird which can soar with the help of two wings, with one wing only it is sure to fall. Faith & good deeds.

Faith and good deeds are always associated with each other in the Quran. There must always be good deeds in order to reach what is known salvation or in other words to attain heaven.

No original sin, first sin by Satan,

( I am better than him...) 38-76

Pride, Racism

So the original sin in Islam was not about eating a fruit from a tree, it was instead a sort of racism believing oneself to be better than the other because of one's colour, sets or race. Racists have no place in Paradise.

Actually Satan was not racist because of his intelligence or because he was more handsome; he was racist because he was created from fire and the other [Adam] was created from mud.

Most of the world's problems are now due to racism [2]. Bombing people because they think these people are not even entitled to live, this is a form of racism.

This focusing on racism made the abolition of racism and of slavery easier in Islam because Islam focuses on eliminating the root cause of the problem of slavery. In fact racism had already been eradicated from the first generations of Muslims. (Story when at ruler of Egypt, Muslim leader was an African)

In fact racism has been eradicated from the early days of Islam.

What happened to the Arabs that in the course of 20 years, when they had being the most racist people, became accepting diversity.
But among the Arabs those [racist attitudes] became obsolete, because of the teachings of Islam. All people were regarded as equal.

For Upholding Justice

God sent His prophets and His holy books for the purpose of upholding Justice. Justice in the world between all people:

{ We have already sent Our messengers with clear evidences and sent down with them the Scripture and the balance that the people may maintain [their affairs] in justice.} 57-25

So as God's trustees on the Earth, men[3] must establish and maintain Justice, and this Justice must be there when Muslims deal with Muslims or with non-Muslims.

(Story when the Prophet ( sallAllahu `aleihi wa sallam ) was confronted with a case of a Jew who was accused of theft, but actually it was a Muslim youth who had stolen a bag of food. His relatives pleaded for their boy, to let the punishment instead fall upon the Jew, since (as they said) he only was "a Jew").
Of course this the Prophet ( sallAllahu `aleihi wa sallam ) would never do, anyway,

Allah sent these verses from the seven heavens to clear this issue {between the people} 4-105, i.e. not between Muslims only!

That means a Muslim must uphold Justice between all people of the world.

Summary

The word ’Kafir’ has become a swear word although its original meaning was quite different. These days it there is too much misuse. Therefore Muslims refrain from using it when addressing non-Muslims.

At the same time non-Muslims should not be offended by it, when it is mentioned in the Quran or in scholarly texts. Since in such instances it is merely cited as the Arabic word meaning non-Muslims.

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