69 million page views

Takferee an old word with a new twist

Reader comment on item: Global Ramifications of the Anti-Muslim Brotherhood Campaign in Egypt

Submitted by dhimmi no more (United States), Nov 3, 2013 at 10:39

Dr. Pipes

I want to bring to your attention that the old word تكفيري or takfiri also takferee (or he who declares that another Muslim is a kafir) has a new meaning that is appearing with increased frequency in the Arabic language press

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takfiri

For the readers the root of the word takfiree is from the root K-F-R where we will also find the word kafir or infidel or non Muslim and i urge readers to use googletranslate

http://www.almaany.com/home.php?language=arabic&lang_name=%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A8%D9%8A&word=%D9%83%D9%81%D8%B1

And if you check number 5 this is what it says

لم يؤمن بالوحدانيّة ، أَو النبوَّة ، أَو الشريعة ، أَو بثلاثتها .

Or he does not believe in the unity of god (ae per Q112) , prophethood (or Muahmmad as per Q9:29), or the sharia (Islamic law) or all three of them

So this defention includes: Jews and Christians and Hindus and Jain and Buddhists and Zoroastrians

However, early on the Caliph was supposed to be Khalifatu Allah or the deputy of Allah on earth and he was the only one that can explain and expand Islamic law. Later on the ulama wanted part of the action and this is why the title of later Caliphs became Khalifat Rasul Allah or the deputy of the prophet of Allah and the ualma became the ones to explain and expand Islamic law including deciding who is a kafir even if he is Muslim

This means that in classical Islam it was the Caliph and then later on the Ulama that declared that a Muslim is an infidel but the question was a Muslim is he who recites al-Shahada so how can a Muslim be declared a kafir? and this is how the above defintion came about and the ulama were the only ones that can declare that a Muslim is a kafir

Now salafists are saying that any good Muslim that can read the Qur'an and can use al-ijtihad (the above defention) he can declare that another Muslim is a kafir and those that issue such declaration are called takferees

So Muslim kuffar would be liberal Muslims as well as secularists

These takferees are extreme salafists

So now we have jihadists and takferees and even the BBC is using not just jihadists but also takferees to describe Muslim terrorists

Now for the etymology of the word KFR or kufr it is really a loan word from Syriac Kapura or ܟܦܘܪܐ

http://www.premiumwanadoo.com/cuneiform.languages/syriac/dosearch.php?searchkey=6281&language=id

Or anyone who is not Christian or Jewish

Again the author of the Qur'an just did not get it

Dislike
Submitting....

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

Follow Daniel Pipes

Facebook   Twitter   RSS   Join Mailing List

All materials by Daniel Pipes on this site: © 1968-2026 Daniel Pipes. daniel.pipes@gmail.com and @DanielPipes

Support Daniel Pipes' work with a tax-deductible donation to the Middle East Forum.Daniel J. Pipes

(The MEF is a publicly supported, nonprofit organization under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code.

Contributions are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Tax-ID 23-774-9796, approved Apr. 27, 1998.

For more information, view our IRS letter of determination.)