Islam And Extremism

THE ISSUE OF KUFR AND KAFIR family, he no longer has faith in Islam. He says that his religion is democracy. According to him, Islam divides humanity into two unequal classes—believers and kafirs—whereas democracy gives equal status to all human beings. He once told me that when a child is born in his home, he will not have the adhan recited into the child’s ear; instead, he will invite a professor who will say into the child’s ear: democracy, democracy, democracy. The reality is that the issue of kafir is not only a problem for non-Muslims. In modern society, it has become, on a large scale, a problem for Muslims themselves. There is a need to understand this issue in depth and to clarify its correct meaning, so that Islam may appear to people as a religion relevant to the times, and so that both Muslims and non-Muslims can live in a balanced way with others in modern society. A thorough study shows that this entire matter is based on misunderstanding. In the conventional view, it is assumed that kafir and nonMuslim are synonymous terms. All those who are not Muslims are considered kafirs. This is undoubtedly a wrong notion. The truth is that the word kafir is not synonymous with non-Muslim. Muslims and the Wider Society From the perspective of the Shariah, a Muslim holds the position of a Da‘i, while a non-Muslim holds the