إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا سَوَاءٌ عَلَيْهِمْ أَأَنْذَرْتَهُمْ أَمْ لَمْ تُنْذِرْهُمْ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ

خَتَمَ اللَّهُ عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِهِمْ وَعَلَىٰ سَمْعِهِمْ ۖ وَعَلَىٰ أَبْصَارِهِمْ غِشَاوَةٌ ۖ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ

"Surely for those who have disbelieved, it is all the same whether you warn them or you warn them not: they would not believe. Allah has set a seal on their hearts and on their hearing, and on their eyes there is a covering; and for them there lies a mighty punishment." [2:6-7]

After affirming the Holy Qur'an as the Book of Guidance and as being beyond all doubt, the first five verses of the present Surah refer to those who derive full benefit from this Book and whom the Holy Qur'an has named as Mu'mineen (true Muslims) or Muttaqoon (the God-fearing), and also delineate their characteristic qualities which distinguish them from others.

The next fifteen verses speak of those who refuse to accept this guidance, and even oppose it out of sheer spite and blind malice. In the time of the Holy Prophet (salallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) there were two distinct groups of such people. On the one hand were those who came out in open hostility and rejection, and whom the Holy Qur'an has termed as kafiroon (disbelievers); on the other hand were those who did not, on account of their moral depravity and greed, had even the courage to speak out their minds and to express their disbelief clearly, but adopted the way of deceit and duplicity. They tried to convince the Muslims that they had faith in the Holy Qur'an and its teachings, that they were as good a Muslim as any and would support the Muslims against the disbelievers. But they nursed denial and rejection in their hearts, and would, in the company of disbelievers, assure them that they had nothing to do with Islam, but mixed with Muslims in order to deceive them and to spy on them. The Holy Qur'an has given them the title of Munafiqoon (hypocrites).

Thus, these fifteen verses deal with those who refuse to believe in the Holy Qur'an - the first two are concerned with open disbelievers, and the other thirteen with hypocrites, their signs and characteristics and their ultimate end.

Taking the first twenty verses of this Surah together in all their detail, one can see that the Holy Qur'an has, on the one hand, pointed out to us the source of guidance which is the Book itself, and, on the other, divided mankind into two distinct groups on the basis of their acceptawe or rejection of this guidance - on the one side are those who have chosen to follow and to receive guidance, and are hence called Mu'mineen (true Muslims) or Muttaqeen (the God-fearing); on the other side are those who reject the guidance or deviate from it, and are hence called Kafiroon (disbelievers) or Munafiqoon (hypocrites).

People of the first kind are those whose path is the object of the prayer at the end of the Surah Al-Fatihah, صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ "the path of those on whom You have bestowed Your grace", [1:7] and people of the second kind are those against whose path refuge has been sought غَيْرِ الْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا الضَّالِّينَ "Not of those who have incurred Your wrath, nor of those who have gone astray." [1:7]

This teaching of the Holy Qur'an provides us with a fundamental principle. A division of mankind into different groups must, in order to be meaningful, be based on differences in principle, not on considerations of birth, race, colour, geography or language. The Holy Qur'an has given a clear verdict in this respect:

هُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُمْ فَمِنْكُمْ كَافِرٌ وَمِنْكُمْ مُؤْمِنٌ

""It was He that created you: yet some of you are disbelievers
and some of you are believers." [64:2]

As we have said, these verses of this Surah speak of those disbelievers who had become so stubborn and obstinate in their denial and disbelief that they were not prepared to hear the truth or to consider a clear argument. In the case of such depraved people, the usual way of Allah has always been, and is, that they are given a certain kind of punishment even in this world - that is to say, their hearts are sealed and their eyes and ears stopped against the truth, and in so far as truth is concerned they become as if they have no mind to think, no eyes to see and no ears to listen.

The last phrase of the second verse speaks of the grievous punishment that is reserved for them in the other world. It may be observed that the prediction, لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ "they shall not believe" [2:6] is specifically related to those disbelievers who refused to listen to the Holy Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم‎) and who, as Allah knew, were going to die as disbelievers.
This does not apply to disbelievers in general, for there were many who later accepted Islam.

What is Kufr? (Infidelity)

As for the definition of kufr (disbelief), we may point out that lexically the word means to hide, to conceal. Ingratitude is also called kufr, because it involves the concealing or the covering up of the beneficence shown by someone. In the terminology of the Shari'ah, kufr signifies the denial of any of those things in which it is obligatory to believe. For example, the quintessence of 'Iman (faith) as well as the very basis of the Islamic creed is the requirement that one should confirm with one's heart and believe with certitude everything that the Holy Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم‎) has brought down to us from Allah (سبحانه وتعالى‎) and which has been established by definite and conclusive proof; therefore, a man who has the temerity to question or disregard even a single teaching of this kind will be described as a kaafir (disbeliever or infidel).

» Posted by Seifeddine-M on 5th January 2011

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