Meaning: the disbelievers · Also translated as: disbelievers, disbeliever, a disbeliever, disbelieving
Forms in the Quran
ٱلْكَٰفِرِينَ×52
لِلْكَٰفِرِينَ×23
ٱلْكَٰفِرُونَ×17
كَٰفِرُونَ×15
ٱلْكُفَّارَ×12
كَٰفِرِينَ×8
وَلِلْكَٰفِرِينَ×5
كُفَّارٌ×4
Its root in the classical dictionaries
الكفر في اللغة: ستر الشيء، ووصف الليل بالكافر لستره الأشخاص، والزراع لستره البذر في الأرض، وليس ذلك باسم لهما كما قال بعض أهل اللغة لما سمع:387-ألقت ذكاء يمينها في كافر
قوله تعالى: ﴿إن الذين كفروا﴾ [آل عمران: 4]. الكفر أصله التغطية والستر. وسمي الكافر الشرعي كافرا لأنه ستر الحق وغطى عليه. وسمي الليل كافرا لستره الأشياء بظلامه. وأنشد لثعلبة: [من الكامل]
Can he who was dead,
To whom We gave life,
And a Light whereby
He can walk amongst men,
Be like him who is
In the depths of darkness,
From which he can
Never come out?
Thus to those without Faith
Their own deeds seem pleasing.
"O ye assembly of Jinns
And men! came there not
Unto you apostles from amongst you
Setting forth unto you
My Signs, and warning you
Of the meeting of this Day
Of yours?" They will say:
"We bear witness against
Ourselves." It was
The life of this world
That deceived them. So
Against themselves will they
Bear witness that they
Rejected Faith.
Who is more unjust
Than one who invents
A lie against God
Or rejects His Signs?
For such, their portion
Appointed must reach them
From the Book (of Decrees):
Until, when Our messengers
(Of death) arrive and take
Their souls, they say:
"Where are the things
That ye used to invoke
Besides God?"
They will reply, "They
Have left us in the lurch,"
And they will bear witness
Against themselves, that they
Had rejected God.
The Companions of the Fire
Will call to the Companions
Of the Garden: "Pour down
To us water or anything
That God doth provide
For your sustenance."
They will say: "Both
These things hath God forbidden
To those who rejected Him;—
So Shu’aib left them,
Saying: "O my people!
I did indeed convey to you
The Messages for which
I was sent by my Lord:
I gave you good counsel,
But how shall I lament
Over a people who refuse
To believe!"
Such were the towns
Whose story We (thus)
Relate unto thee:
There came indeed to them
Their apostles with clear (Signs):
But they would not believe
What they had rejected before.
Thus doth God seal up
The hearts of those
Who reject Faith.
Behold! God promised you
One of the two (enemy) parties,
That it should be yours:
Ye wished that the one
Unarmed should be yours,
But God willed
To justify the Truth
According to His words,
And to cut off the roots
Of the Unbelievers;—
Go ye, then, for four months,
Backwards and forwards,
(As ye will), throughout the land,
But know ye that ye cannot
Frustrate God (by your falsehood)
But that God will cover
With shame those who reject Him.
But God did pour His calm
On the Apostle and on the Believers,
And sent down forces which ye
Saw not: He punished
The Unbelievers: thus doth He
Reward those without Faith.
Fain would they extinguish
God's Light with their mouths,
But God will not allow
But that His Light should be
Perfected, even though the Unbelievers
May detest (it).
Verily the transposing
(Of a prohibited month)
Is an addition to Unbelief:
The Unbelievers are led
To wrong thereby: for they make
It lawful one year,
And forbidden another year,
In order to adjust the number
Of months forbidden by God
And make such forbidden ones
Lawful. The evil of their course
Seems pleasing to them.
But God guideth not
Those who reject Faith.
Among them is (many) a man
Who says: "Grant me exemption
And draw me not.
Into trial." Have they not
Fallen into trial already?
And indeed Hell surrounds
The Unbelievers (on all sides).
Let not their wealth
Nor their (following in) sons
Dazzle thee: in reality
God's Plan is to punish them
With these things in this life,
And that their souls may perish
In their (very) denial of God.
God hath promised the Hypocrites
Men and women, and the rejecters,
Of Faith, the fire of Hell:
Therein shall they dwell:
Sufficient is it for them:
For them is the curse of God,
And an enduring punishment,—
Nor let their wealth
Nor their (following in) sons
Dazzle thee: God's Plan
Is to punish them
With these things in this world,
And that their souls may perish
In their (very) denial of God.