KAFIR AND KUFR — Who Are Kafirs?

‘O people’. He continued to use this form of address throughout his life. He addressed groups or communities with words such as ‘O people of Quraysh’, ‘O Children of Abdul Muttalib', etc. The Prophet of Islam spent the first 13 years of his prophet-hood in Makkah. After this, he migrated to Madinah and remained there till the end. The first period is known as the Makkan period, and the second period as the Madani period. Chapter 109 of the Quran begins with these words. “Say, O you Kafirs (deniers of truth)”. After this address, the chapter goes on to say that ‘You will never worship the one who I worship’. The act of kufr is related to the question of intention, and only God knows what a person’s intention truly is. This chapter was revealed during the Makkan period of the Prophet's life. The above address was specifically directed at the people of Makkah of those times. History shows that about eight years after this, Makkah came into the fold of Islam and all the people of Makkah accepted Islam. This is the event that is mentioned in the Quran in these words "When God's help and victory come, and you see people entering God's religion in multitudes." (THE QURAN 110: 1-2) The question arises that when all the people of Makkah were going to become believers and Muslims, why were they addressed as Kafirs in the Quran and why was it said that ‘You will never worship the one God’, although God the All-Knowing was fully aware of what was to happen? The reason for this difference was that in this chapter of the Quran, the usage of the words is not in legal terms but, rather, in the language of admonition. This style of expression cannot be taken in a legal or definitive sense. Here, the stress is on the severity and seriousness of the issue. In reality, the words were a warning that if they — the people of Makkah — did not follow the Prophet, they would be deniers of truth in the eyes of God, and the result of such denial will be hell. It was a call to faith in a very intense language, rather than a declaration of them being kafirs. If it was a declaration of their kufr, then after Makkah came under Islam these people could not have entered the fold of Islam in multitudes.