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]
When the Unbelievers see thee,
They treat thee not except
With ridicule. "Is this,"
(They say), "the one who talks
Of your gods?" And they
Blaspheme at the mention
Of (God) Most Gracious!
And the Companions
Of the Madyan people;
And Moses was rejected
(In the same way). But I
Granted respite to the Unbelievers,
And (only) after that
Did I punish them:
But how (terrible) was
My rejection (of them)!
If anyone invokes, besides God,
Any other god, he has
No authority therefor;
And his reckoning will be
Only with his Lord!
And verily the Unbelievers
Will fail to win through
But (now), when the Truth
Has come to them from Ourselves,
They say, "Why are not
(Signs) sent to him, like
Those which were sent to Moses?"
Do they not then reject
(The Signs) which were formerly
Sent to Moses? They say:
"Two kinds of sorcery,
Each assisting the other .
And they say: "For us,
We reject all (such things)!"
And those who had envied
His position the day before
Began to say on the morrow:
"Ah! It is indeed God
Who enlarges the provision
Or restricts it, to any
Of His servants He pleases!
Had it not been that God
Was gracious to us, He
Could have caused the earth
To swallow us up! Ah!
Those who reject God
Will assuredly never prosper."
And thou hadst not expected
That the Book would be
Sent to thee except as
A Mercy from thy Lord:
Therefore lend not thou support
In any way to those
Who reject (God's Message).
And thus (it is) that We
Have sent down the Book
To thee. So the People
Of the Book believe therein,
As also do some of these
(Pagan Arabs): and none
But Unbelievers reject Our Signs.
And who does more wrong
Than he who invents
A lie against God
Or rejects the Truth
When it reaches him?
Is there not a home
In Hell for those who
Reject Faith?
Do they not reflect
In their own minds?
Not but for just ends
And for a term appointed,
Did God create the heavens
And the earth, and all
Between them: yet are there
Truly many among men
Who deny the meeting
With their Lord
(At the Resurrection)!
And they say: "What!
When we lie, hidden
And lost, in the earth,
Shall we indeed be
In a Creation renewed?
Nay, they deny the Meeting
With their Lord!"
That (God) may question
The (Custodians) of Truth concerning
The Truth they (were charged with):
And He has prepared
For the Unbelievers
A grievous Penalty.