KAFIR AND MUSHRIK-WHEN ISLAM GIVES THE NAMES TO NON-MUSLIMS

Writing about elements of religion abused by some  terrorist group is not an easy job. Why? Simply because you are never sure where are the borders between the religion and its interpretation. No matter what you did learn about religion, the understanding of it “holy issue” is always different from one  person to  another, from one population to another. Many factors determine this approach but they also cause totally various results. How I see my God is based on what I learn about my God, what my family believes in, what is my educational background….and doesn’t surprise that religious sensitivity today is one of the biggest challenges.

Now, taking an Islam into the consideration, if we want to be objective and professional, we must emphasize that Islam is not only a religion but also one  political system. Chapters  of Islam which directly address the political power and rule over the states of ignorance or Jahiliyyah (جاهلية‎) show us that Islam is based more  on political principles than on religious. The political spirit of Islam is very important for non-Muslims because it defines all we need to know about the current relations between Muslims and kafirs. Islam Political Trilogy is divided into three books: Qur’an (the Holy book of Muslims), Sira( Prophet Mohammed’s biography) and Hadith (Prophet Mohammed’s traditions).The all three books are following the Prophet Mohammed and his way of life, but in different fields. Qur’an doesnt give the instructions to Muslims how to be good Muslims but Sira and Hadith which follows the  life of Prophet Mohammed and his opinions regarding many fields are some kind of ” idealized believer” guidance. Everything what Prophet Mohammed did or made in his life is  “non questioned ” and ” non analyzed “,it is absolutely right and adopted. But only those who are gifted to understand it, they follow it and implement it. They are Muslims.The rest of those who not follow the Prophet Mohammed and Allah, they are kafirs. Bill Warner, the founder of the Center for the Study of Political Islam wrote in his essays that Islam is a political ideology and that almost 61% of Qur’an is defining the problem of kafirs and that even more than 75% of Sira is processing also the non-Muslims. He think that kafirs are subject of interests in Islam from the beginning to the end of all holy texts. There are information that kafir is directly mentioned 134 times in Qur’an and indirectly almost 250. The kufr (absence of belief) is mentioned more than 37 times in the Holy book.   Saying  kafirs, we usually mean  non-believers or non-Muslims but we forget that kafirs in Arabic language means also something else. Look on the following: KAFIR ( كافر‎) and KUFFAR (كفّار). The first is one non-believer and the second is name for many of them. Unfortunately, writing kafirs  in English is not correct, but writing kuffar could be somehow acceptable. It means infidel, disbeliever  and it always has a negative connotation, it is a derogatory term. Sometimes, in burning political and religious debates, it is also  used one another phrase and it is MUSHRIK (مشرك) but this is one who practice polytheism and “his religion is shirk”. Aggressive religious people in Islam often use those two terms as one, addressing the people of Books, Christians and Jews. Reading the Qur’an, an average person, without deep understanding of Islamic religion, could be confused about the importance of kuffar in the Book. In one chapter, they are accepted as good neighbors but in another one, they are the lowest form of human kind and they don’t have dignity and they don’t deserve it at all. That is so called “Islamic dualism”. There are always more  thoughts which deal with the certain issue. They are opposite to one another. The believer is confused as well as the believer. But, the last one is stronger and it should be right one. The same is about the kuffar.

SURAT AL-KĀFIRŪN (THE DISBELIEVERS) -109, QUR’AN

“O disbelievers,I do not worship what you worship, and you do not worship what I worship. I will never worship what you worship, and you will never worship what I worship. You to your religion, me to my religion.”

It seems like one very tolerant statement. You can have your religion, I will keep mine. Nobody will bother nobody. Religion is almost like our free choice. People who read this believe that Islam is more tolerant than Christianity.

However, look on this :

SURAT AT-TAWBAH (THE REPENTANCE)-9:5, QUR’AN

“When the sacred months are passed, kill the kafirs wherever you find them. Take them as captives, besiege them, and lie in wait for them with every kind of ambush. If they submit to Islam, observe prayer, and pay the poor tax, then let them go their way. Allah is gracious and merciful.”

I found another translation of the same sura:

“And when the sacred months have passed, then kill the polytheists wherever you find them and capture them and besiege them and sit in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they should repent, establish prayer, and give zakah, let them [go] on their way. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.”

In the first translation, it is about kafirs  or non-believers and in another one it is about polytheist or mushriks. I wouldnt say its the same. But in some of the sources, those translations make a big difference in the analyzes of the political dimension of Islam.

If I accept the explanation that the both statements come from Allah and the both are true but the  later verse is stronger, which one is first one and which one is the second? It is all about the abrogation in Qur’an. The abrogation principle basically says that when something from a later chapter oppose to something   from an earlier chapter, the later one is the better one and fully acceptable.David Bukay, expert for Jihad themes writes in one of his articles under the title Peace or Jihad? Abrogation in Islam :”Chapter 9 of the Quran, in English called “Ultimatum,” is the most important concerning the issues of abrogation and jihad against unbelievers. It is the only chapter that does not begin “in the name of God, most benevolent, ever-merciful.” Commentators agree that Muhammad received this revelation in 631, the year before his death, when he had returned to Mecca and was at his strongest. Muhammad bin Ismail al-Bukhari, compiler of one of the most authoritative collections of the hadith, said that “Ultimatum” was the last chapter revealed to Muhammad although others suggest it might have been penultimate. Regardless, coming at or near the very end of Muhammad’s life, “Ultimatum” trumps earlier revelations.
Because this chapter contains violent passages, it abrogates previous peaceful content. Muhsin Khan, the translator of Sahih al-Bukhari, says God revealed “Ultimatum” in order to discard restraint and to command Muslims to fight against all the pagans as well as against the People of the Book if they do not embrace Islam or until they pay religious taxes. So, at first aggressive fighting was forbidden; it later became permissible (2:190) and subsequently obligatory (9:5). This “verse of the sword” abrogated, canceled, and replaced 124 verses that called for tolerance, compassion, and peace.
The Egyptian theologian Abu Suyuti said that everything in the Quran about forgiveness and peace is abrogated by verse 9:5, which orders Muslims to fight the unbelievers and to establish God’s kingdom on earth.”

As an independent observer and analyst, I must conclude that reading Qur’an without understanding the abrogation principle is wasting of time. The Holy Book is explaining all you need to know about your (im)possible position in the potential  Islamic Empire or lets call it the  Caliphate, which is the  top goal of the Islamic terrorists. In my own articles, I find very important to divide Muslims and Islamist. Muslims are those believers who follow their Holy Book and do not endanger anyone else. I would say their religion is only their and for now they do not force anyone else. Islamists are those Muslims who are not pleased to enjoy in their religion but they want to spread their religion and to force all others to join it or to die. They turn the religious into political system and ideology into pure terrorism. They are the cancer of the whole civilized world. As any religious book, Qur’an could be understood in many totally opposite ways. Add to it the cultural and  intellectual architecture we  are in and we  will have a chance to read all we need in one moment. The same is with the fanatics. They take the book, they merge the postulates of religion with their own selfish psychopaths expectations and they have a blended cocktail of fake religious principles, strong hateful visions and greedy political ideas.

As I always write, it is not about God, it is always about people. It is not about believers, it is always about those who believe only in their own interests.

Unfortunately, religion is the most abused element in the modern world. You don’t know how to find followers for your death projects. Tell them that God want them to do that. They don’t understand the religion by themselves but they do  understand the way you interpret  for them. You are on the top of the mountain. You are a new God.

Welcome to the  world of so many believers that being non-believer saves you a soul.

BY:SANDRA MAKSIMOVIC