Defining an 'unbeliever'/'disbeliever'
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Asalam alaykum to all,
I am relatively new to the Quran, so please excuse my ignorance.
I was reading an english translation of the Quran for verse 234 at http//corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=2&verse=34
It depicts iblis becoming one of the 'disbelievers'. This is a striking statement to me, as it places the term 'disbeliever' in this context; that is of iblis receiving a direct order from Allah, refusing the order and becoming an evil-doer. As far as I can tell, iblis and shaitan are the same embodiment of evil. The Quran later contains many verses that imply that shaitan is fully aware that Allah alone is the Master of our universe; to me this seemingly implies that being a 'disbeliever' can be generalized to the idea of being one who chooses a path of evil as opposed to a limited definition which might include the requirement to believe in Allah as depicted by the Quran. Perhaps this sets up a context for Judgment of those who will not encounter Islam or the Quran, or who choose to live as righteously as possible without calling themselves Muslim. Is it thus acceptable to say that anyone who strives to a righteous existence within the context of their circumstances may be accepted by Allah as equal to a 'Believer'?
Allah knows best.
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believer = disbeliever, and disbeliever = believer
they both GUESSED , one realised it's not true, and the other noticed it might be true, no one can prouve anything.
I see it different, there is no belief requirement in the quran, but there is been truthfull
truthfull in everything
Allah knows best. -
ALLAH All powerful, all wise creator of the universe who is guaranteed to be correct 100% of the time
Believer Bears witness that ALLAH is indeed that
Disbeliever Does not acknowledge thisEven though Iblis knows full well who ALLAH is, the fact that he disagreed with ALLAH indicates he didn't truly acknowledge the perfection. What I understand so far is that quranic disbelief is basically a blatant refusal to acknowledge the truth even when it is in front of you. Like witnessing a murder and saying "I saw nothing".
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Kuffur root word K-F-R in both Arabic and Hebrew had an actual meaning of "Covering/Hiding", "Deny", "Rebel".
This of course in opposite to the meanings of S-L-M with meanings of "submit truthfully", "at peace/whole heartedly accept".
Happiness can be achieved when we are SLM-ing.. to what happens to us now.. to how the events turns out.. to the truth/fact as it's being revealed.In eastern religion/culture they uses another term which is 'in harmony'.. they say happiness can be achieved when we're 'in harmony to our surroundings / universe'. When we're 'not in harmony' / 'rejecting' to things and/or events which not in accordance to our wishes we shall became 'rebelling' (to the fact) and feel resentful, not happy, vengeful and hatred. Which usually resulted from our own 'ego' which is 'arrogance' feeling pride about ourselves..
Salam / Peace / Shalom / Shanti
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Thanks for your replies.
I guess my point for discussion in describing the above example of iblis/shaitan is considering whether it is in fact the same (ie to be an 'unbeliever' if one chooses to 'conceal/deny/reject' any one of Allah, Truth, righteousness, 'good' or anything which is the antithesis of evil, or indeed be 'ungrateful' for the same. And if so, does this perhaps imply that rejection of one of these is to reject them all - that there is perhaps no requirement for an explicit rejection of any particular one of these eg 'belief' in Allah as depicted by the Quran, because all that is the antithesis of evil is One and the same - the separation is illusory. That is, there exists only a duality of good and evil, and all other 'names', ideas, phenomena etc are synonymous with one of the two. From this perspective for example, it makes no difference if you encounter the Quran or not, but whether you do or not will change the appearance and nature of the events of the path your life takes on a journey between and ultimately toward one of the dualities. Ultimately only Allah knows the ultimate Truth, we can only therefore operate in a realm where everyone as individuals exists in a pseudo-reality in their minds, and when you think about it, this is fundamental to creating the differences between us which then creates a realm in which we can be tested for our choices between good and evil. Perhaps I am stating the obvious, but this seems to generalise nicely and bring together - unify if you like, some of the examples of definitions mentioned in the other replies, along the lines of what loxbox13 stated. It can perhaps also increase empathy and tolerance toward others, perhaps erroneously labeled 'unbelievers' simply because the nature of their 'test' looks different to ours.
Allah knows best.
Peace.
