The Meaning of Kafir and Mushrik

The Meaning of Kafir and Mushrik
The literal meaning of ‘Kufr’ is ‘to conceal’ or ‘to hide’. It also means ‘disobedience’ or ‘thanklessness’. Similarly, ‘Shirk’ means ‘to make someone the associate or partner of someone’. In terms of Islamic Shariah, whosoever does not believe in Allah together with all His attributes, conceals the Ultimate truth about Tawheed (oneness of God), declines to have faith in it and fails to obey the instructions of Allah, has committed ‘Kufr’ and thus, he is nothing but a ‘Kafir’ and whosoever makes someone the associate or partner of Allah in His traits, powers and characteristics in some way or the other; does not believe that He is the Creator and Sustainer of the entire universe, has committed Shirk and he is nothing short of being a ‘Mushrik’. In the light of the above-mentioned appreciation, it is not only possible but extremely simple and straight to believe in Allah, the Almighty in all His entirety, by all human beings using their own intellect as well as pondering over His creations. This aspect has been dealt in detail in the following pages.
Distinction between Islam and non-Islam

As per the details in the previous pages, whosoever came on this earth since Hazrat Adam up till now, spent his life in accordance with the instructions of Allah, was a Muslim. In other words, in the Ummat gone by, those people who stood by the Ultimate Truth and traversed the righteous path were definitely Muslims, inspite of being Christians, Jews or followers of any other religion. However, as per the terminology of Quran, Islam is the name of the final religion preached by Hazrat Muhammad (SAW) in the sixth century A.D. It was the message of Allah for the entire mankind. People who follow the Prophet are called Muslims. Besides, all the followers of non-Islamic religions at present are non-Muslims and can be termed as Kafir or Mushrik as per the terminology of Quran.