I appreciate your comments on the words Islam, Kafir, People of the book etc, indeed a majority of Muslims subscribe to that thought process. The word Kafir and People of the book are misused to claim superiority over the others, to create a class, that which Islam stands againts. Arrogance is the root cause of all conflict and that is not what God's wishes, he wishes his creation to get along and live in harmony without any distinction of religion, race or culture. (idea of Quraan 49:13)

I know a few will jump at me without even thinking, as if they are parrots and have shut out all thinking faculties. The fact is an overwhelming majority of Muslims are open to learning, as Quran started with that word, and most Muslims subscribe to the idea that God is not owned by Muslims or any exclusive group, Praise the lord, lord of the universe, (rabbul aalameen) as Muslims we recite that at least 50 times a day.

I am writing a piece on Muslim women seeking to marry men outside their faith, in the article, I have touched up on the idea of " Kafir and the people of the book". For nearly a thousand years men who wanted to "control" women wrote most of the ideas... at times what it seems like going against the equality God has blessed to men and women. On the day of judgment no woman will have her husband stand by her, nor a man has a woman standing by him, each one is an equal individual responsible for his or her actions. Nothing but your responsibility is accounted for... of course, God is merciful and beneficent and he would always has his last word.

2:221 “AND DO NOT marry women who ascribe divinity to aught beside God ere they attain to [true] belief: for any believing bondwoman [of God]* is certainly better than a woman who ascribes divinity to aught beside God, even though she pleases you greatly. And do not give your women in marriage to men who ascribe divinity to aught beside God ere they attain to [true] belief: for- any believing bondman [of God] is certainly better than a man who ascribes divinity to aught beside God, even though he pleases you greatly. [Such as] these invite unto the fire, whereas God invites unto paradise, and unto [the achievement of] forgiveness by His leave; and He makes clear His messages unto mankind, so that they might bear them in mind."

God is for all times and so is his wisdom. Thank God we have the freedom to learn and understand concepts that were limited in scope but are actually universal.

In the above verse, a distinction was made between those who believe in a creator and those who reject the creator (or associate the creator with others). Do Jews, Christians, Hindus or people of other faith not believe in God? Don't the Atheist, Buddhists, Jains, Wicca and others believe in accountability? They all do, they also believe that some thing caused the world to come into being, whom we call God.

Perhaps the wisdom behind the distinction was to understand those who rejected God in medieval times, and it meant that they did not care for the moral values of the humanity and became a source of immorality. That stereo typing does not apply today as it did some ten centuries ago. Atheist and those who do not believe in a formal God are as moral as the ones who show off their belief every which possible. In all sincerity the word “Polytheist” exists without a corpus. Typically Hindus are ascribed as Polytheists without verifying that Hindus believe in one supreme God as well, and accept God in different manifestations, as Muslims also see God in 99 different attributes.

The other aspect that a few Muslims are hung up with is the phrase “People of the book” as though we belong to an “exclusive men’s club” and others don’t. That is sheer arrogance and a major source of conflict in community relations. Islam’s message was to find means to dissolve the arrogance and not manufacture it.

The Prophet, peace be upon him, indeed had wished that his people also had a book like the Jews and Christians. At that time having a book meant civility, discipline and a system and not necessarily divinity. No doubt the Christians and Jews were included in the exclusive club, but we have missed out the Hindus, Buddhist, Jains and others who all have a book of guidance. The Qur’aan uses 124,000 Prophets to mean that the cherisher of the universe (Rabbul Aalameen) has reached out to every nation and tribe although only 25 names were listed; similarly only two inclusions were listed as people of the book where as there were many others who followed the books.

God is wise, all embracing and cannot be narrow in his appeal. We the humans tend to want to own God and box up his wisdom. Let's give God all the freedom he has. After all we have created God in our own image.

Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im, an Islamic family law expert at Emory University , argues that gender dynamics have changed in a way that makes interfaith marriage more reasonable under Islamic tradition. "In social reality today, men are not dominant in the marriage relationship. The rationale of historic rule is no longer valid," he said. "But people are not willing to accept this. This is a major source of tensions."

There is a value we all have to realize today or tomorrow and that is peaceful co-existence is God’s will. We should be open to people who value the morals of the society to work for peaceful co-existence with or without the books.

Mike Ghouse

To be a Muslim is to be a peacemaker, one who seeks to mitigate conflicts and nurtures goodwill for peaceful co-existence. God wants us to live in peace and harmony with his creation; that is indeed the purpose of religion, any religion. Mission statement

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In a message dated 8/2/2009 12:42:27 P.M. Central Daylight Time, iftekhar.hai@gmail.com writes:

Dear Javed Saheb:

Let me ask you a few specific questions: We would appreciate if you could answer them objectively and not go off our focus of defining key words that are repeated over and over in the Quran. This can help all of us. If we agree to key definitions of these words then the interpretation of the Quran becomes more important in the light of these definitions. AGAIN - PLEASE DO NOT ATTACK OR MAKE "PERSONAL ATTACKS." This is only to explain our two sides in the best possible way so that global message of the Quran and its wisdom from the Hadith can be available for all to see.

1) Define Islam

2) Believer

3) Dhimmi

4) Kafir

5) Non-Believer

OUR DEFINITIONS HAVE RECEIVED APPROVAL FROM NUMEROUS SCHOLARS FROM INDIA AS WELL AS FROM USA.

Key Definitions: How do we define and explain key words is absolutely important to better understanding of The Quran in the light of Global Inter-religious peace movement that is going on. It creates a mind-set that can become very narrow and selective in creating antagonistic divisions or it can create a more accommodating and tolerant mind-set. Some of the key words which are essential to better understanding are the following:

Islam The Quran is very clear in explaining the definition of the word Islam. What does it mean and what does it stand for. The uniqueness of this word is - that it is not named after any person (in this case our Prophet). It means total surrender or submission to Allah (God). Islam was the religion even before our Prophet Mohammed was born (pbuh) as is evidenced in The Quran in reference to 42:13,

"The same religion (Islam or submission) has He established for you that which He enjoined on Noah. That which We have sends as inspiration to you (Mohammed pbuh) and that which We enjoined on Abraham, Moses and Jesus: That you should stay steadfast in religion (submission to our Lord -Islam) and make no divisions therein. (this means work for the unity of humankind) As for those who worship other than God they are on (hard) wrong way to call from. God chooses and guides those whom He wills towards Him.

Commentary: According to this if a Christian, a Jew or any believer in One Supreme Being says “we surrender or submit to God.” They are falling within the definition of the word Islam. The art of surrender or submission is called Islam. This art of submission/surrender was shown to all the Prophets and their people as evidenced in The Quran 10:47, 14:4 & 16:36. Islam is very inclusive and broad in its definition. Muslims believe in Allah (God) and take Mohammed (pbuh) as their messenger, just as Christians and Jews believe in the same God and take Jesus and Moses as their respective messengers. However Muslims believe in all the prophets from Jewish and Christian scriptures. One must refrain from judging other believers the depth of surrendering or submission of other believers. God is THE ONLY JUDGE. Here Jesus advice is more relevant, “Do not Judge others lest you be judged.”

Surah 3:85, “If anyone desires a religion other than Islam, never will it be accepted of him.” Here the definition of Islam must be taken in its global context of surrendering and submission to One and Only One God.

Believer: Anyone who says, “We believe in One God” is a Believer. Let God be the ultimate judge. Humans will never have perfect knowledge to judge others.

Muslim: A Muslim is a person who says, “There is no God but One God (Allah) and Mohammed (pbuh) is a messenger of God.

Dhimmi: People of the Book, Christians and Jews who lived in an Islamic state were called dhimmis. This term is very often mis-interpreted. The expressed mission of Islamic state was to establish Islamic rules and regulations and form Islamic society. To convert People of Book to Islam was not the policy.

Dhimmis were exempted from military service and Islamic teachings. The Quran honored Christians and Jews as People with Revelations, the Bible and the Torah. Their property, life and places of worship were protected. For this service and protection a prorated tax “Jaziya” was collected by the Islamic state. Jaziya was not meant to be economically oppressive, on the contrary it was a compensation paid to the state for maintenance of law, order and due process in the Islamic state that guaranteed their constitutional rights. Dhimmis were exempted from paying the Zakat that was obligatory on every Muslim citizen. The rate of Jaziya was smaller than the Zakat rate. Presently, no Muslim country imposes “Jaziya” on People of other faiths. Jaziya is now history.

Kafir or Infidels: The word Kafir is derived from the Arabic root word KFR, (Kaf, Fay and Ray) which means to cover, conceal or hide. Hiding with the intention of misleading, deceiving or suppressing the truth. Meddling with the Holy Scriptures where intentionally truth is either, concealed, changed, omitted, misinterpreted so that people either begin to doubt or lose complete faith in God, His Signs and His Revelations – this can come in the area of infidelity (being unfaithful to your Creator) or Kufr.

Character assassinations of Biblical and Quranic Prophets, done intentionally to undermine the faith or trust/believe in God, His Signs and Revelations can also be classified, as Kufr and people committing such acts are called Kafirs or infidels.

One cannot call a believer in God from Christianity or Judaism as Kafir if they do not believe in Mohammed (pbuh) as Messenger of God.

In modern language, you can say, it has to be intentional dishonesty, deception and misinformation. Just like a more sophisticated, premeditated perjury is deep rooted in misleading or deceiving people which can lead to criminal actions so also we have to consider the extent of intentional deception or perjury in explaining Kafir or Kufr.

Infidel does not really represent the true meaning of the word Kafir. The dictionary merely says an infidel is one who does not belief in any religion, especially Christianity and Islam.

Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs who comprise 2.5 billion of the world’s population cannot all be classified as non-believers or as KAFIRS. There are billions of them who belief in God, the Last Day and Life after Death and in doing righteous deeds. They have also been shown the art of surrender, submission or devotion (which in Arabic is called Islam). The Quran says, “To every people we send an Apostle in their own language and in their own country to clarify God’s message in Quran 14:4, 10:47 &16:36. Muslims are commanded to believe in the revelations that have come to them (The Quran) and the revelations that came before their times (Torah, Psalms and Gospels) in Quran 2:4.

Hence believers in One God from other faiths cannot be lumped or stereotyped as non-believers. No one has the authority to judge others. Hence they cannot be called KAFIRS because they also have been shown the art of surrender, submission or devotion which is the true meaning of the word Islam.

The Quran uses Kafirs in reference to the pagan Arabs who had unleashed war on Prophet Mohammed and early Muslims. All the verses on war must be taken in reference to pagan, idolatrous Arabs. Muslims look towards war in the Quran to stop tyranny, oppression of the pagan Quresh tribe. The other side of war was to establish freedom, liberty, women rights and a better law abiding society.

Christians and Jews who lived during the times of Prophet Mohammed were never defined as Kafirs or infidels. They are called as, “People of the Book” throughout the Quran. Prophet Mohammed included them as part of Medina Constitution This is a very important observation that we all should know.

Hence believers in One God from other faiths cannot be lumped or stereotyped as non-believers. No one has the authority to judge others. Hence they cannot be called KAFIRS because they also have been shown the art of surrender, submission or devotion which is the true meaning of the word Islam.

Non-Believer: Non-believers are those who do not believe in God. There could be numerous reasons, conditions, situations or factors for their lack of faith in God. There are Americans who are not taught religion at home or public schools hence they become secular in their outlook. They also grow with no negative baggage. Their conscience is clear. They have a sense of equality and justice which is God-given quality of being just and fair.

Sometimes a believer passes from being in a believing state to a non-believing state and there could be many reasons for that too.

A non-believer is not a hypocrite or infidel (kafir). It is important to know the difference.