Takfiris

''Takfiri'' ( ar, تَكْفِيرِيّ, ' lit. "excommunicational") is an Arabic and Islamic term denoting a Muslim who excommunicates one of his/her coreligionists, i.e. who accuses another Muslim of being an apostate. Since according to the traditional interpretations of Islamic law (''sharīʿa'') the punishment for apostasy is the death penalty, and potentially a cause of strife and violence within the Muslim community (''Ummah''),Karawan, Ibrahim A. (1995). "Takfīr". In John L. Esposito. ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. an ill-founded accusation of ''takfīr'' is considered a major forbidden act (''haram'') in Islamic jurisprudence, with one ''ḥadīth'' declaring that one who wrongly declares another Muslim to be an unbeliever is himself an apostate.Shiraz Maher, ''Salafi-Jihadism: The History of an Idea'', Penguin UK (2017), p. 75 Takfirism has been called a "minority ideology" which "advocates the killing of other Muslims declared to be unbelievers".

The accusation itself is called ''takfīr'', derived from the Arabic word ''kāfir'' ("unbeliever"), and is described as when "one who is a Muslim is declared impure."Kepel, Gilles; ''Jihad: the Trail of Political Islam'', London: I.B. Tauris, 2002, p. 31 An apostate is a ''murtad''. In principle, in mainstream Sunnī Islam, the only group authorized to declare another Muslim a ''kāfir'' are the scholars of Islam (''Ulama''), and this is only done if all the prescribed legal precautions have been taken. An ill-founded accusation of ''takfīr'' is a major forbidden act (''haram'') in Islamic jurisprudence. Traditionally, the declaration of ''takfīr'' was used against self-professed Muslims who denied one or more of the basic tenets of Islam. Throughout the history of Islam, Islamic denominations and movements such as Shīʿa Muslims and the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community have been accused of ''takfīr'' and labeled as ''kuffār'' ("unbelievers") by Sunnī Muslims, becoming victims of religious discrimination, violence, and persecution perpetrated against them over the centuries.

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. Since the latter half of the 20th century, ''takfīr'' has also been used for "sanctioning violence against leaders of Islamic states" who do not enforce sharia or are otherwise "deemed insufficiently religious". This arbitrary application of ''takfīr'' has become a "central ideology" of insurgent Wahhabi- Salafi jihadist extremist and terrorist groups, particularly al-Qaeda and ISIL/ISIS/IS/Daesh, who have drawn on the ideas of the medieval Islamic scholars Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn Kathir, and those of the modern Islamist ideologues Sayyid Qutb and Abul A'la Maududi. The practice of ''takfīr'' has been denounced as deviant by the mainstream branches of Islam and mainstream Muslim scholars such as Hasan al-Hudaybi (d. 1977) and Yusuf al-Qaradawi.

Issues and criticisms

Traditionally, Muslims have agreed that someone born a Muslim or converting to Islam who rejects the faith is deserving of capital punishment, provided legal precautions have been taken (the accused being educated in their error, given a chance to repent, evaluated for mental soundness, etc.). This is true in the case of a self-professed apostates, or "extreme, persistent and aggressive" proponents of religious innovation (''bidʻah'').
From the 19th century onwards, liberal/modernist/reformist Muslims have complained that this capital punishment is a violation of the principle of no compulsion in religion, and only those guilty of treason should be executed. Revivalist and conservative Muslims see the capital punishment as a matter of obedience to the Islamic law (''sharīʿa'') and protection of the faith. Since the 20th century, capital punishment is seldom applied by the state in Muslim-majority countries; instead, it is frequently carried out by "vigilantes" who believe that they are executing their "individual duty". (''See also'': Apostasy in Islam#In practice in the recent past