Kafir
Arabic term for "unbeliever" in Islam
Kāfir (Arabic: كافر; pl. كافرون, kāfirūn) is an Islamic term of Arabic origin used by Muslims to refer to non-Muslims who deny the God of Islam, reject his authority, or do not accept the message of Islam as truth.
Kafir is often translated as 'infidel', 'truth denier', 'rejector', 'disbeliever', 'unbeliever', The term is used in different ways in the Quran, with the most fundamental sense being ungrateful towards God. Kufr means 'disbelief', 'unbelief', 'non-belief', 'to be thankless', 'to be faithless', or 'ingratitude'. The opposite term of kufr ('disbelief') is iman ('faith'), and the opposite of kafir ('disbeliever') is mu'min ('believer'). A person who denies the existence of a creator might be called a dahri.
One type of kafir is a mushrik (مشرك), another group of religious wrongdoer mentioned frequently in the Quran and other Islamic works. Several concepts of vice are seen to revolve around the concept of kufr in the Quran. Historically, while Islamic scholars agreed that a mushrik was a kafir, they sometimes disagreed on the propriety of applying the term to Muslims who committed a grave sin or the People of the Book. The Quran distinguishes between mushrikūn and People of the Book, reserving the former term for idol worshippers, although some classical commentators considered the Christian doctrine to be a form of shirk.
In modern times, kafir is sometimes applied to self-professed Muslims, particularly by members of Islamist movements.
“Kafir” enters the record as arabic term for "unbeliever" in Islam. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Kafir, Arabic and term can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q629608. The Library of Congress control number is sh85073365. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Kafir” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.