An Arabic Islamic Glossary for Kuffār, Infidels

Timothy Furnish, PhD (9.8.26)

Drawing upon J. Milton Cowan, ed., The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, fourth edition (Urbana, IL: Spoken Language Services, 1994).

The issue of the Kuffār, infidels, is one of the most important in the Qur’ān: 64% of the total Qur’ān; 81% of the Sīrāh; and 37% of the Hādīth; that is 60% of the Sharī‘āh is devoted to the Kuffār.

Terms concerning non-Muslims directly

Dâr al-Harb — “War zone, enemy territory,” from the noun dâr, “abode, region, territory” in tandem with the noun harb, “the sword,” “war,” from the verb hariba, “to be angry, fight.” Popular interpretation: Term used only by “extremists.” Reality: mainstream Islamic doctrine that any part of the world not ruled by Muslims should be conquered. (Opposite of Dâr al-Islâm.)

Jihâd — “Fight, battle, holy war (against the infidels, as a religious duty).” From the verb jahada, “to strive, fight, wage holy war.” Popular understanding (following misleading apologists): jihad is merely “striving to be a good Muslim,” and has been “hijacked by extremists.” Reality: Wehr’s definition from 1960 (first line, above), which is that of classical Islamic scholars drawing on the Quran and hadiths. Derivations: Mujâhid/jihâdî, “warrior/one who engages in jihad.”

Dâr al-Islâm — “Territory of Islam,” combining dâr with islam “to surrender” to Allah’s will. Popular understanding: places where Muslims are a majority. Reality: Nascent polity; since the dismantling of the Ottoman Caliphate in 1924, there is no formal Dar al-Islam, but there are many efforts to implement sharî`ah (Iran, Afghanistan, ISIS, Gaza).

Shar`îah — “Religious law of Islam,” from the verb shara`a, “to comment, introduce, prescribe, enact.” Popular understanding: Muslim religious law which relegates both women and dhimmi to an inferior (apartheid) status. Reality: Religious law enforced by the state, not simply applying to mosques and personal life.

Da`wah — “Call, summons, invitation,” from the verb da`â, “to call, summon, invite.” Popular understanding: Islamic “evangelism.” Reality: more akin to religious coercion and cognitive (non-violent) warfare, especially when combined with…

Kaffâr/Kâfir, pl. Kuffar — “Infidel, unbeliever,” from the verb kafara, “to cover, to not believe.” Popular understanding: a slur against non-Muslims. Reality: used copiously in the Quran and is mainstream Islamic term for non-Muslims. Derivations: Kufr, “unbelief;” takfir, “to accuse a fellow Muslim of unbelief, apostasy,” deserving of death.

Harbi — lit. “warrior,” or “military man.” Common usage: the infidel living in Dar al Harb, i.e., destined to the sword.

Dhimmi — Non-Muslims under Muslim “protection,” from the verb dhamma, “to rebuke, blame, censure.” Popular understanding: system under which Jews and Christians pay a special tax and are “protected” by Muslims. Reality: enshrined, permanent second-class citizenship, apartheid laws of Sharia, getting protection from Muslim violence by the acceptance of a degraded condition.

al-Walā’ wal-Barā’ — “Devotion and withdrawal.” The former from the verb waliya, “to be near to, friends with;” the latter from the verb barâ’a, “to disclaim association with.” Fundamentalist (Salafî) concept of clinging to Allah’s dictates, and discarding anything opposed to them. Popular interpretation: Islamic piety. Reality: “The total allegiance and love are only to be given within the Islamic community, and rejection, hate and enmity against the other.”

Taqîyah — “Dissimulation” of one’s religion (under duress…),” historically in Shî`îsm. From the verb waqâ, “to safeguard, preserve.” Popular understanding: virtually ignored, as it makes Muslims look bad. Reality: Practice has spread into Sunnism, where it’s used by jihadists as “strategic concealment”—that is, religiously-justified lying to non-Muslims in order to hide aims of conquest.

Allah — “The god,” from the verb allaha, “to deify.” Popular understanding: same deity Jews and Christians worship. Reality: Quranic slanders of Jews and rewriting of biography of Jesus suggest that Allah is a different deity from the Biblical one.

Caliph — Khalîfah, “vicar, deputy, successor,” from the verb khalafa, “to succeed.” Popular understanding: leader(s) of Muslim community after death of Muhammad. Reality: the ruler of a Muslim empire, who enforces sharî`ah on both Muslims and non-Muslims. Derivations: Khilâfah, “caliphate.”

Fatwâ — “Formal Islamic legal opinion,” from the verb fatiya, “to render a religious legal opinion, to furnish with info, to expound upon.” Popular understanding: Something any Muslim leader can do. Reality: While only technically authoritative if done by a mufti, one educated and licensed to do so, fundamentalists will accept them from others (such as Usama bin Ladin) since they see establishment religious figures as corrupt.

Hadîth — “Narrative relating sayings and deeds of Islam’s founder, Muhammad.” From the verb haddatha, “to tell, report, relate.” Popular understanding same as reality. Caveat: Many of the tens of thousands of hadiths are unreliable or outright fabrications.

Islamism — Popular understanding: Blanket term for allegedly politicized or violent Islam, adhered to only by “extremists/radicals.” Reality: Mainstream Islam is both supremacist and political and condones, even promotes, jihad. Calling those who believe those things “Islamism” as a modern fundamentalist reaction to modernity whitewashes historic Islamic doctrines.

Mahdî — “Rightly/divinely-guided” Muslim eschatological (“messianic”) leader. From the verb hadâ, “to be guided.” Popular understanding: bizarre, radical idea. Reality: absent from Quran but spelled out in hadiths, thus popular belief in Islam for centuries. For Sunnîs, the Mahdi will eventually emerge onto the historical stage; for Twelver Shî`îs, he came already and disappeared in the 9th century AD, the 12th descendant of Muhammad through Ali, but will return at some point (thus ‘the Twelfth Imam’).

Salafî — Muslim who believes in living and constructing society as it was in the time of the aslâf, “pious ancestors” of the early 7th century AD. From the verb salafa, “to precede, be bygone.” Popular understanding: refers to fundamentalist “extremists.” Reality: emulating “the prophet” and his first followers is the norm for all Muslims, particularly Sunnîs.

Shî`ah — The “followers of Ali,” the Shî`îs. The second-largest branch of Islam, whose ancestors believed that Ali—Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law—and, then, his offspring should have been the caliphs. Their idea of a special status for the bloodline of Muhammad lost out to the majority Sunnis. Popular understanding: viewed as most violent Muslims, thanks to Iran’s leadership. Reality: vast majority of the world’s terrorists are actually Sunnis.

Sûfî — An Islamic mystic, who can be either Sunni or Shî`î. Named after their ancient tendency to wear sûf, “wool.” Legions of Sufi orders still exist in the Muslim world, with the “whirling dervishes” of Turkey perhaps the best known. Popular understanding: Gurus with beards. Reality: while less prone to fundamentalism, still historically engaged in jihads proclaimed by charismatic leaders (e.g. The Mahdi of Sudan, 1880-1885). Branch of Islam most likely to succumb to Mahdism (Islamic messianism).

Sunnah — The “traditional practice” of Islam, (allegedly) following that of Muhammad and the early community. (See Salafî.) Rejected Shî`î claims of special status for family line of Muhammad. Sunnîs are the most numerous Muslims, although there are sects within this branch. Popular understanding and reality differ little.