I was recently talking to a non muslim who had 2 questions for me.
- Why is it important in Islam to convert other people?
- Why is a non muslim referred to as a kaafir?
Please elaborate and discuss in a manner that is mature enough for me to convey to the person who asked me the questions.
Peace Niksik
1) shahmir123 is absolutely right ...
I would go one step further and say that it is forbidden for Muslims to convert other people.
Guidance comes from God
We are charged with the task to deliver the message of Islam
There is no compulsion in the Deen
We have to spread the message of Islam as an extension to the prophetic mission. If on the Day of Judgement someone who knew a Muslim and was never invited with wisdom to Islam then they would have an excuse against that person ... that "Why hold me accountable? So and so did not tell me about it." and so on. So to protect our own selves we should undertake this important mission ... it is also considered invitation to be so nice and brilliant in character that people want to be with us and to be like us, rather than simply telling them that we have truth.
2) A Kaafir is a term which means a person who often covers up ... to cover up can mean to hide oneself or to hide something else or to be unmindful of it or to lie and so on ... Kaafir hence refers to people who disown the truth that their inner natures are telling them to accept. In which case kufr can exist in Muslims as well in selected matters but when it comes to recognition of God and His Law then we submit to it ... to do otherwise would be kufr.
A kaafir can also be understood as a person who does not give due dilligence or is not being shrewd enough to find the truth and accepts those things that are just easy to accept, either because of the status quo or because it is easy on their whims and egos to do so.
A non-Muslim by definition is a person who does not submit ... to submit is to show ones cards and to be an open book in matters of faith so the opposite would that person who hides this and hence is kaafir. It only seems like a bad term to those who hear it because it has been stigmatised by the west but also because when looking at it objectively it hurts to be told that we are not being honest with ourselves. Kaafir in reality should be that person who hears the truth and has no reason left to deny it yet still does so. Most non-Muslims can argue the case that they really are not kaafir, but in any case that is the term used for them in the general sense.