Takfir

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Takfir (Arabic: تَكْفِير, romanized: takfīr) is an Arabic and Islamic term which denotes excommunication from Islam of one Muslim by another, i.e., accusing another Muslim of being an apostate. The word is found neither in the Quran nor in the hadith literature; instead, kufr ("unbelief") and kafir ("unbeliever") and other terms employing the same triliteral root K-F-R appear. Since according to the traditional interpretations of Islamic law (Sharia), the punishment for apostasy is the death penalty, and potentially a cause of strife and violence within the Muslim community (Ummah), an ill-founded takfir accusation was a major forbidden act (haram) in Islamic jurisprudence, with one hadith declaring that one who wrongly declares a Muslim an unbeliever is himself not an apostate but rather one who has committed a minor shirk. In the history of Islam, a sect originating in the 7th century CE known as the Kharijites carried out takfir against both Sunni and Shia Muslims, and became the main source of insurrection against the early caliphates for centuries. Traditionally, the only group authorized to declare another Muslim a kafir are the scholars of Islam (Ulama), which affirm that all the prescribed legal precautions should be taken before declaring takfir, and that those who profess the Islamic faith should be exempt. Starting in the mid-to-late 20th century, some individuals and organizations in the Muslim world began to apply takfir accusations not only against those that they perceived as stray deviant and lapsed Muslims, but also governments and in some cases, societies as well. In his widely influential book Milestones, Egyptian Islamist ideologue Sayyid Qutb preached that governments ruling the Muslim world had fallen into a state of collective apostasy or jahiliyyah (a state of pre-Islamic ignorance) several centuries ago, having abandoned the use of Sharia. Qutb held that without Sharia law...