Who Are the Believers?

Tonight I am thinking about a comment a friend made recently. He asked me who the "Infidels" in Islam are. "Is it the rest of us who do not believe as Muslims do?" he asked.

I replied that the word
Infidel is not an Islamic term or value. Muslims are not endowed to refer to non-Muslims as Infidels because it is not in keeping with the teachings of the Qur'an.

Islam does not seek to contradict and undermine Judaism or Christianity. On the contrary, Islam is essentially an extension of both though there are distintive differences.

Beyond Judaism and Christianity, Islam recognizes that there are other believers. The universal strand is the emphasis on the oneness of God and living right.

There is no war, real or imagined, with other believers. And the word Infidel is not a marker, historical or other, of antagonism with non-Muslims.

Infidel also does not describe an otherness in Islam. And it is not a vengeful statement about potential enemies. Islam does not have, or describe, natural enemies.

Infidel does, however, conjure the mythical Muslim militant. This is an imagined projection seated in the "Orientalism" that Edward Said characterized.

The following verse from the Qur'an speaks to what I am trying to convey here:

Sura Al Baqara: 2:61

(61) Those who believe (in the Qur'an) and those who follow the Jewish (Scriptures) and the Christians and the Sabians, any who believe in Allah and the Last Day and work righteousness, shall have their reward with their Lord; on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.

The Qur'an is clearly inclusive in the matter of who the believers are.