Islam And Extremism

THE ISSUE OF KUFR AND KAFIR The standard model for such an invitational effort is the thirteen-year Makkan period of the Prophet of Islam . When the Prophet of Islam  began his invitational work among the people of Makkah, his address began with the words Ya ayyuha al-insan. After addressing people as human beings for thirteen years, when they knowingly persisted in rejection, only then was this verse of the Quran revealed: Qul ya ayyuha alkafirun. Even then, it was a direct divine proclamation, not a form of address initiated by the Prophet himself. All disputes between Muslims and non-Muslims, and all the complaints that Muslims have against nonMuslims, are essentially national and material in nature. They are purely worldly conflicts of the same kind that also occur among non-Muslim groups themselves. Such disputes cannot be described as religious conflicts between kafir and Muslim. Rather, they should be understood as worldly disputes between two groups. If the aim is to establish conclusive proof against other nations, the first necessary condition is that Muslims should, on their own initiative, bring these worldly disputes to an end. When Denial Is Established When does it become definitively established that a person has become a denier—that his rejection of the