Difference Between Kāfir, Munāfiq, and Zindīq, and Their Islamic Rulings
Author: Imran Ayub Lahori
❖ Definitions
✔ Kāfir (Disbeliever):
One who does not accept the true religion, neither outwardly nor inwardly.
✔ Munāfiq (Hypocrite):
One who professes Islam with the tongue but conceals disbelief in the heart.
✔ Zindīq (Heretic):
One who professes faith both outwardly and inwardly, but interprets clear and established matters of the Sharīʿah in a way that contradicts the understanding of the Companions, the Tābiʿūn, and the consensus of the Ummah.
Example:
He acknowledges the Qur’an and the existence of Paradise and Hell, but interprets them as:
- Paradise = happiness attained through good qualities
- Hell = regret caused by evil traits
— while denying the actual existence of Paradise and Hell.
❖ Types of Interpretation (Ta’wīl)
① Interpretations not in opposition to the Qur’an, Sunnah, and consensus of the Ummah.
② Interpretations that contradict definitive matters — this is zandaqah.
Examples of Zandaqah:
- Denial of intercession, the Day of Judgment, seeing Allah, punishment of the grave, the questioning by Munkar and Nakīr, the Ṣirāṭ, and accountability.
- Denial of Paradise for Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه and ʿUmar رضي الله عنه, despite clear texts affirming it.
- Claiming that Khatm al-Nubuwwah means only that one cannot name a child “Prophet” after Muḥammad ﷺ.
Ruling:
The majority of later Ḥanafīs and Shāfiʿīs agreed that such a person must be executed.
[Fiqh al-Sunnah 2/54; al-Rawḍah al-Nadiyyah 2/632]
❖ Evidence Regarding Munāfiqīn
The statement:
«أولئك الذين نهاني الله عنهم»
"These are the people whom Allah has forbidden me from killing"
— refers to the munāfiqīn.
An Anṣārī asked permission to kill a hypocrite. The Prophet ﷺ asked him:
① “Does he not testify that there is no god but Allah?”
② “Does he not testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah?”
③ “Does he not pray?”
When the Anṣārī replied “Yes” each time, but insisted the man was insincere, the Prophet ﷺ said:
«أولئك الذين نهاني الله عنهم»
"These are the people whose killing Allah has forbidden me."
[Musnad Aḥmad 5/432–433]
❖ Seeking Repentance Before Execution
➊ Ḥaḍrat Jābir رضي الله عنه narrates:
A woman named Umm Rumān became apostate. The Prophet ﷺ instructed that she be invited to repent; if she repented, fine, otherwise she would be executed.
[Daʿīf: Talḫīṣ al-Ḥabīr 4/49, al-Dāraqutnī 3/119, al-Bayhaqī 8/203; Ibn ʿAdī declared the narrator Ibn ʿAṭārad munkar al-ḥadīth; Ibn Ḥajar graded both isnāds weak.]
➋ Jābir رضي الله عنه reports:
The Prophet ﷺ invited a man to repent four times.
[Daʿīf: Talḫīṣ al-Ḥabīr 4/93; Majmaʿ al-Zawā’id 6/265. The chain contains ʿAlāʾ ibn Hilāl, abandoned in ḥadīth.]
➌ Abū Mūsā رضي الله عنه kept inviting an apostate to repent for nearly twenty nights. Then Muʿādh رضي الله عنه also invited him, but when he refused, they executed him.
[Ṣaḥīḥ: Sunan Abī Dāwūd 3662; Kitāb al-Ḥudūd, Bāb al-Ḥukm fī man irtadda; Abū Dāwūd 4356]
➍ When ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb رضي الله عنه heard of this, he said:
«هلا حبستموه ثلاثا وأطعمتموه كل يوم رغيفا واستتبتموه لعله يتوب»
"Why did you not imprison him for three days, feed him daily, and invite him to repent—perhaps he would have repented?"
[*Muwaṭṭaʾ 2/737; Badāʾiʿ al-Manan 2/189]
❖ Scholarly Opinions on Repentance
✔ Majority (Jumhūr): Apostate is to be invited to repent. If he repents, he is spared; otherwise, he is executed.
✔ al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī and Ahl al-Ẓāhir: He is executed regardless of repentance.
✔ al-Nakhaʿī: Only repentance is sought; no execution.
✔ al-Shāfiʿī: A Zindīq is to be invited to repent.
✔ Abū Ḥanīfah & Aḥmad: Repentance is not accepted; execution is applied.
✔ Mālik: If he repents willingly, it is accepted; otherwise, not.
[Nayl al-Awṭār 4/656; Fatḥ al-Bārī 14/273]
❖ Preferred View (Rājiḥ Qawl)
The explicit proofs on apostasy indicate execution without the necessity of repeated repentance requests.
- The claims of consensus requiring multiple repentance requests are weak.
- The correct approach: Invite him once to return to Islam; if he repents, he is spared; if not, he is executed immediately.
Magicians, soothsayers, blasphemers (against Allah, the Prophet ﷺ, Islam, Qur’an, or Sunnah), mockers of religion, and zanādiqah — all are treated the same: they are invited once, as a disbelieving enemy is invited before battle.
[al-Rawḍah al-Nadiyyah 2/653; al-Sayl al-Jarrār 4/373]
On the number of repentance requests:
- Some said once is enough.
- Some said thrice — whether in one sitting, one day, or over three days.
- Details may be consulted in classical fiqh works:
[al-Umm 1/257; Badāʾiʿ al-Ṣanāʾiʿ 9/4384; al-Mughnī 12/264; Bidāyat al-Mujtahid 2/495]
❖ Summary
- Kāfir: Neither outward nor inward belief.
- Munāfiq: Outward belief only.
- Zindīq: Outward and inward claim of belief, but denies or reinterprets established tenets of Islam in heretical ways.
Ruling:
- Apostasy and zandaqah are capital crimes in Islamic law.
- Majority: Invite to repent; if refusal, execute.
- Strongest opinion: One-time invitation is sufficient; if refusal, execution applies immediately.
