Why do Muslims call non-Muslims as Kafirs?

Answer 1

Answer 1

Dr. Zakir Naik in his book 'Answers to non-Muslims common questions' reply to this question as;

Kafir means one who rejects

'Kafir' is derived from the word 'kufr', which means to conceal or to reject. In

Islamic terminology, 'Kafir' means one who conceals or rejects the truth of Islam and a person who rejects Islam is in English called a 'non-Muslim'. If a 'non-Muslim' considers being called a 'non-Muslim' or 'Kafir', which are one and the same, an abuse, it is due to his misunderstanding about Islam. He or she needs to reach out to proper sources of understanding Islam and Islamic terminology, and not only will he not feel abused but appreciate Islam in the

proper perspective.

Answer 2

Kafir (كافر) means "denier" or "negator" since they are denying or negating the truth of God. In Islam, God (as understood in Islam) is the only proper belief and all people inherently know that Islam is correct but refuse to acknowledge this. As a result, calling someone a Kafir is claiming that this person is trying to deceive others into rejecting a God that he knows is true, making his beliefs insincere. It is for this reason that Kafir is used. Additionally, Kafir is used as a derogatory insult even against Christians and Jews who DO believe in the same God as the Muslims. It is not a neutral or acceptable term in a non-Islamic context.

However, the question remains as to why Muslims continue to use this. The answer is that some Muslims would rather continue following their historic traditions no matter how insulting they are to non-Muslims than use simple terms like Non-Muslim (غير-مسلم) which are value-neutral. Thankfully, an increasing portion of Muslims are using these value-neutral terms, because they understand that racist language is unacceptable.