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This article is on the Islamic religious term. For the pejorative racial slur, see kaffir (ethnic slur).
Kafir (Arabic: كافر kāfir; plural كفّار kuffār) is an Arabic word literally meaning "ingrate". In the Islamic doctrinal sense the term refers to a person who does not recognize Allah or the finality of the prophethood of Muhammad and hides, denies, or covers the truth. In cultural terms, it is a derogatory term

Muslim — submitter [to God]
Mu'min — believer
Fasiq — open sinner
Fajir — sinner (by action)
Kafir — concealer of the truth
Munafiq — hypocrite
Ahl al-Kitâb
Ahl al-Fatrah
Deen (Arabic term)
kafir dhimmi
kafir harbi
kafir musta'min Etymology
The word kāfir (and related words, such as the abstract noun kufr "disbelief") is mentioned in the Qur'an in five different senses:
The word kufr can also be applied to a Muslim when he is doing something wrong, but not necessarily something that would place him or her outside the state of belief in Islam. For example, a Muslim who is able to perform the Hajj but does not go, without denying the need to go, would be committing an act of kufr in a sense of ungratefulness to God.
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In the Qur'an the phrase "O disbelievers" (yā kuffār, Ya ayuhalathina kafaru, or Ya ayuhal-kafirun) is found only in these two places:
In the rest of the Qur'an, the Qur'anic style follows two principles:
In today's world, scholars recommend) According to scholars
"Verily, God forgives not (the sin of) setting up partners in worship with Him, but He forgives whom He pleases other sins than that" (al-Nisa 116).
"Say: Was it God, or His signs or His Messenger that you were mocking? Make no excuse, you have disbelieved after you had believed." (al-Tauba 65-66).
"And who does more wrong than he who is reminded of the signs of his Lord, then he turns aside therefrom? Verily, We shall exact retribution from the sinners"
The Kafiroon are not to be confused with the munafiq. The munafiq are Muslim hypocrites.

Acts that invalidate Islam
For dealing with non-Muslims, Jasser Auda, a director of the al-Maqasid Research Centre in the Philosophy of the Islamic Law in London, England, says that the general rule is mentioned in the verse that says what means:
God welcomes you to respect those who have not made war against you on account of [your] religion, and have not driven you forth from your homes, that you show them kindness (birr) and deal with them justly; surely God loves the doers of justice. God only forbids you respecting those who made war upon you on account of [your] religion, and drove you forth from your homes and backed up [others] in your expulsion, that you make friends with them, and whoever makes friends with them, these are the unjust. (