Christians and Jews are not kafir

khan · #1 (**permalink**) 09-29-2007, 10:07 AM

Christians and Jews are not kafir. They are "the people of the book" or Ahle-kitab.

Believers, Jews, Sabaeans and Christians - whoever believes in God and the Last Day and does what is right - shall have nothing to fear or to regret. T.Q., Sura 5, The Table Spread, verse 69.

Believers, Jews, Christians, and Sabaeans whoever believe in God and the Last Day and does what is right shall be rewarded by their Lord; they have nothing to fear or to regret. T.Q., Sura 2, The Cow, verse 62.

ameen · #2 (**permalink**) 09-29-2007, 10:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by khan

Christians and Jews are not kafir. They are "the people of the book" or Ahle-kitab.

Believers, Jews, Sabaeans and Christians - whoever believes in God and the Last Day and does what is right - shall have nothing to fear or to regret. T.Q., Sura 5, The Table Spread, verse 69.

Believers, Jews, Christians, and Sabaeans whoever believe in God and the Last Day and does what is right shall be rewarded by their Lord; they have nothing to fear or to regret. T.Q., Sura 2, The Cow, verse 62.

Those Verses refer to Jews and Christians who believe in ONE God without any partners, so they don't include Jews and Christians who commit idolatry by associating partners with God, or by splitting God into three.

wheelworks · #3 (**permalink**) 09-29-2007, 10:53 AM

Nowadays there seem to be more athiests anyway.

Musashi · #4 (**permalink**) 09-29-2007, 01:15 PM

Asallamu 'alaikum wa rahmatulLahi wa barakatuh

Yeah, the current ones are mushrikeen.

Khairan · #5 (**permalink**) 09-29-2007, 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Musashi

Asallamu 'alaikum wa rahmatulLahi wa barakatuh

Yeah, the current ones are mushrikeen.

As far as I know, there are no Jewish beliefs which qualify them as mushriks. As for Christians, not all of them are Trinitarians. There are a few groups who actually don't believe Jesus is the son of God, although this group was clearly much larger a percentage of the population at Christianity's inception.

ameen · #6 (**permalink**) 09-29-2007, 03:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Khairan

As far as I know, there are no Jewish beliefs which qualify them as mushriks.

salam,

According to Verse 9:30 of the Qur'an, some Jews took Ezrah / 'Uzair to be son of God, similar to some Christians who took Prophet Jesus as son of God:

"The Jews say: 'Uzair is the son of God', and the Christians say: 'The Messiah is the son of God'. These are only sayings of their own mouths; they imitate the sayings of those who disbelieved before them. Allah's curse be upon them – how they are deluded away from the Truth!" - (9:30)

AbuAlAbbas · #7 (**permalink**) 09-30-2007, 01:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by khan

Christians and Jews are not kafir. They are "the people of the book" or Ahle-kitab.

Believers, Jews, Sabaeans and Christians - whoever believes in God and the Last Day and does what is right - shall have nothing to fear or to regret. T.Q., Sura 5, The Table Spread, verse 69.

Believers, Jews, Christians, and Sabaeans whoever believe in God and the Last Day and does what is right shall be rewarded by their Lord; they have nothing to fear or to regret. T.Q., Sura 2, The Cow, verse 62.

Be careful of your words, the scholars have said that those who dont believe that jews and christians are non-believers that they themselves are non-believers as well.

098.006
"Surely those who disbelieve from among the followers of the Book and the polytheists shall be in the fire of hell, abiding therein; they are the worst of men. "

Deel · #8 (**permalink**) 09-30-2007, 01:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wheelworks

Nowadays there seem to be more athiests anyway.

exactly. which is

Khairan · #9 (**permalink**) 09-30-2007, 01:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AbuAlAbbas

Be careful of your words, the scholars have said that those who dont believe that jews and christians are non-believers that they themselves are non-believers as well.

Yeah, that's not a very compelling argument. "If you don't believe that we're the chosen people and that everyone else is going to hell, then YOU'RE going to hell too! LIVE IN FEAR!!!"

I think I'm content leaving the final decisions up to God and recognizing that I don't really have any idea who He will choose to grant Paradise.

mustahsin · #10 (**permalink**) 09-30-2007, 03:57 AM

Those verses have a more complex meaning than a casual reading can indicate. Here's an attempt on my part to explain them:

Quote:

Believers, Jews, Sabaeans and Christians - whoever believes in God and the Last Day and does what is right - shall have nothing to fear or to regret. T.Q., Sura 5, The Table Spread, verse 69.

And the other verse is similar, so the same explanation as the one that follows.

Take a closer look at the verse. The verse says "believers, Jews, Sabeans and Christians". This obviously indicates that the "believers" are not the same group as either the Jews, or Sabeans or Christians. But at the same time the verse implies that the Jews, Sabeans and Christians can also believe in God and the last Day and do good deeds.

The solution is simple. This verse says that to be saved you must believe in God and the Last Day and do what is right. How can you achieve this?

1. If you have received the message of Islam and the call of the final and universal prophet Muhammad (peace be unto him) sufficiently, then the only thing that is right for you to do is to follow him and to be a full believer in this way, as indicated by other verses of the Qur'an.

2. If you have not received the message of Islam, then Allah wants you to choose what is the appropriate way for you. If a God-fearing understanding of Christianity or Judaism or another religion like Sabeanism is the best way you have access to, you are expected to follow it at least until you receive the message of Islam sufficiently. Following from the above verse, in this case, you are responsible for "believing in God", "in life after death" and doing what is the comparatively right way in the way of life and manners you choose. Although you are not considered a full "believer" even according to this verse because you have not had the chance to follow the last and universal Prophet (peace be unto him), at least you have fulfilled the other requirements that the verse mentions: Believing in God, in the judgment day and doing good.

A hadith which I am quite sure was authentic says that if a Christian or Jew has heard of the message of Prophet Muhammad (peace be unto him), for them to go to the jannah and not jahannam, it is incumbent for them to believe in the message that he has brought. This hadith supports the above interpretation of the noble Quranic verses.

Allah knows best and may He forgive me for my mistakes.

Ilikemyscarf · #11 (**permalink**) 09-30-2007, 10:39 AM

I thought the word kafir meant one who attempts to hide the truth? So if we take that definition, the non-muslim masses in the West aren't really kafir. They're not hiding anything.

wheelworks · #12 (**permalink**) 09-30-2007, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ilikemyscarf

I thought the word kafir meant one who attempts to hide the truth? ...

I always thought Kufr meant to reject the truth after it was presented to you

Ilikemyscarf · #13 (**permalink**) 09-30-2007, 10:43 AM

Ok someone clarify exactly what the word kafir means....there seems to be confusion.

Variable · #14 (**permalink**) 09-30-2007, 11:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ilikemyscarf

Ok someone clarify exactly what the word kafir means....there seems to be confusion.

Doesn't it mean to 'cover up' something kind of?

Ilikemyscarf · #15 (**permalink**) 09-30-2007, 11:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Variable

Doesn't it mean to 'cover up' something kind of?

That is what I thought too, but I am not so sure now.