Kafir

The Arabic-Islamic term kāfir ( Arabic كافر kāfir , pluralكفّار kuffār ; female formكافرة kāfira ) denotes unbelievers or "God- deniers ". Kāfir is derived from the root k-fr . This word root occurs about 500 times in the Koran and is used there to designate the opponents of Muhammad as kuffār ("unbelievers") or as alladhīna kafarū ("who disbelieve"). Kafara originally meant "to cover" in Altarabic (cf. Kufr ). Specifically, what is meant is disbelief in relation to Islamic beliefs. Giaur or Ghiaur is the Germanized variant of the Turkish equivalent ( gavur ) of Kafir. She achieved fame especially through Karl May's works.

Distinctions in Islamic Law

There are three types of kuffar in Islamic law :

Dhimmis who live with limited rights under Islamic rule.

Ḥarbīs who live without rights, including the right to life , outside the Islamic territory.

Musta'mins ,who are granted similar rights to the dhimmis by means of a temporary protection treaty ( amān )so that they can enter Islamic dominion. Musta'min's statusis always limited in time.

Another legal distinction is made in classical Islamic law between the murtadd , the apostate from Islam, and the kāfir aslī , the “original unbeliever”: A murtadd , if he did not secretly apostate, was to be killed after a waiting period; a kāfir aslī (كافر أصلي) could either be killed or enslaved in captivity . The Islamic practice of declaring Muslims to be infidels is called takfīr .

General then saw rights provisions of Islamic jurisprudence in the case of Scripture owners the choice between the acceptance of Islam, accepting the dhimmi status or the fight; Those of other faiths who did not fall under the category of script owners had the choice between converting to Islam or fighting. In the course of the Islamic expansion , the offer of the dhimma was also extended to religious communities that were not actually the owners of scriptures, so that almost all non-Muslims were able to remain in their own religion in return for payment of the jizya .

Other uses of the term

The term Kāfir was later used by the Europeans for the Xhosa living in South Africa (English form Kaffir , Germanized Kaffirs ). This word is often used by Muslims in general terms for non-Muslims or for Muslims of heterodox faiths and has been considered degrading since the decree of the Turkish sultan in 1856.

The inhabitants of the former Kafiristan , now Nuristan , were also called that.

In Persian-speaking Central Asia, Kāfir Qalʿa ("pagan castle", "fortress of the infidels") is a common name for archaeological sites from pre-Islamic times, for example for Tacht-e Rostam (Afghanistan), Kafer Qala (Kala-Kahzad) near Farah (Afghanistan ), Kāfer Qalʿa near Samarkand (Uzbekistan) and Kafirkala in Kolkhozabad (Tajikistan).

In the literature

The Serbian Janissary Konstantin from Ostrovitza (15th century) writes in his memoirs of a Janissary in Chapter 46:

“About the Christians who are among the Turks
The Turks call the Christians Giaurs. The Sultan knows exactly the number of those who are among the Turks and how many are in each country. They pay the Sultan an annual tribute of 40 aspers per head [which the Turks call akçe ], 40 of which make one gold piece. And the Sultan receives 100,000 of them many times a year. [...] The Christians also pay the masters to whom they are subordinate and whom they call " Timarlılar " half of the sultan's tribute and a tenth of their entire income or property. They do not do slave labor to the Sultan or to any other lord, and they do not trade. "

literature

Walther Björkman : Kafir . In: Encyclopaedia of Islam , New Edition . Volume IV. EJ Brill, Leiden 1978, p. 407b-409a .
Rudi Paret : Mohammed and the Koran, history and proclamation of the Arab prophet. 10th edition, Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1985. ISBN 978-3-17-019874-6 (= Kohlhammer-Urban pocket books , volume 32).
Renate Lachmann (translation, introduction): Memoirs of a Janissary or Turkish Chronicle. In: Günther Stökl (ed.): Slavic historians, Volume VIII. , Styria , Graz / Vienna / Cologne 1975, ISBN 3-222-105529 .

Individual evidence

↑ Camilla Adang: Belief and Unbelief . In: Jane Dammen McAuliffe (Ed.): Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān . Volume 1. Brill, Leiden / Boston / Cologne 2001, pp. 220f.
↑ Walther Björkman: Kāfir . In: The Encyclopaedia of Islam . Volume 4. Brill, Leiden 1997, p. 407.
↑ Walther Björkman: Kāfir . In: The Encyclopaedia of Islam . Volume 4. Brill, Leiden 1997, p. 408.
^ Robert G. Hoyland (Ed.): Muslims and Others in Early Islamic Society . Ashgate 2004, p. Xiv
↑ PONS Global Dictionary English-German, 1st edition 1983, reprint 1987, Collins / Klett.
↑ Brockhaus 14. A. 1908, Vol. 7. Keyword "Giaur"
↑ Renate Lachmann (introduction and translation): Memoirs of a Janissary or Turkish Chronicle. Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2010, p. 144 ( online )

[1] Camilla Adang: Belief and Unbelief . In: Jane Dammen McAuliffe (Ed.): Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān . Volume 1. Brill, Leiden / Boston / Cologne 2001, pp. 220f.

[2] Walther Björkman: Kāfir . In: The Encyclopaedia of Islam . Volume 4. Brill, Leiden 1997, p. 407.

[3] Walther Björkman: Kāfir . In: The Encyclopaedia of Islam . Volume 4. Brill, Leiden 1997, p. 408.

[4] Robert G. Hoyland (Ed.): Muslims and Others in Early Islamic Society . Ashgate 2004, p. Xiv

[5] PONS Global Dictionary English-German, 1st edition 1983, reprint 1987, Collins / Klett.

[6] Brockhaus 14. A. 1908, Vol. 7. Keyword "Giaur"

[7] Renate Lachmann (introduction and translation): Memoirs of a Janissary or Turkish Chronicle. Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2010, p. 144 ( online )