Takfir () 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 ḥadīth literature; instead, kufr ("unbelief") and kāfir ("unbeliever") and other terms employing the same triliteral root K-F-R appear.

Since according to the traditional interpretations of Islamic law (sharīʿa) the punishment for apostasy is the death penalty, 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 takfīr against both Sunnī and Shīʿa Muslims, and became the main source of insurrection against the early caliphates for centuries. Traditionally, the only group authorized to declare another Muslim a kāfir are the scholars of Islam (Ulama), which affirm that all the prescribed legal precautions should be taken before declaring takfīr, and that those who profess the Islamic faith should be exempt. 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 sharīʿa law, without which (Qutb held) Islam cannot exist. who do not enforce sharia or are otherwise "deemed insufficiently religious". Some Salafi jihadist insurgent organizations such as Takfir wal-Hijra, GIA, Boko Haram, and the Islamic State,

The act which precipitates takfīr is termed mukaffir. A Muslim who declares another Muslim to be an unbeliever or apostate is a takfīri ("excommunicational"). In general, the official Muslim clergy considers that Islam does not sanction excommunication of Muslims who profess their Islamic faith and perform the ritual pillars of Islam. Ulamas often raise objections by asking rhetorical questions of who holds the right to excommunicate others, on what religious criteria it should be based, and what level of specialized knowledge in Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) is required for the qualification of authority.

An example given of the reluctance of Muslims to takfir is the refusal of authorities at Al-Azhar University to takfir ISIL/ISIS/Daesh in 2015 despite that group's notorious takfir atrocities; and the refusal of "many mainstream Muslims" to takfir the Kharijites, despite this sect being "unanimously regarded as the arch-takfiris" by scholars.

Examples

Examples of takfir spreading once takfir is accepted in a Muslim community include:

  • The Saudi Arabian fatwa website IslamQA.info gave as an example of over-zealous takfir "deviants" a group who "kept away from Jumu'ah (Friday prayer) and Salah al jamaa'ah (congregational prayer) and regarded the Muslims in that land"—the 19th century community on the Arabian peninsula who followed the teachings of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab – "as disbelievers". Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhaab himself was noted for teachings whose "pivotal idea" was that "Muslims who disagreed with his definition of monotheism were not heretics, that is to say, misguided Muslims, but outside the pale of Islam altogether."
  • Islamist youth incarcerated for alleged extremism in Egypt in the mid-1960s agreed with the theory set forth in Sayyid Qutb's book Milestones that Islam was extinct since sharia law was not being enforced in the "Muslim" world, and that the right response was to withdraw from "Muslim" society in preparation for the overthrow of the secular regime. However they disagreed over whether their detachment should be "total" (i.e. a low profile but not secret existence on the margins of society) or "spiritual" (i.e. kept secret from other Muslims until they were a stronger force). The groups mutually declared takfir on each other and "refused to greet one another, and sometimes even came to blows".

Characteristics of apostasy in classical Islam

Traditionally, Islamic jurists did not formulate general rules for establishing unbelief, instead compiling sometimes lengthy lists of statements and actions which in their view were grounds for a takfir accusation. These could be wide-ranging and seemingly far removed from basic Islamic beliefs.

The manuals Reliance of the Traveller, a 14th-century manual of the Shafi'i school of jurisprudence (fiqh), and Madjma' al-Anhur by Hanafi scholar Shaykhzadeh (d. 1667) include

From Reliance: