Kufr as concealment of the truth

الكفر بوصفه ستراً للحق

Sha'rawi holds that kufr means concealment, so that the disbeliever conceals God's existence; a concealment presupposes something that exists, so faith is the original state and heedlessness came after it. He argues from Adam's teaching and the angels' prostration that disbelief came later, and that God's question 'how do you disbelieve in God, when you were dead and He gave you life' is an argument from the disbeliever's own existence 1 2. This is Sha'rawi's reading and is attributed to him.

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Era
The Prophetic Era
Region
Global / Diaspora
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Summary

Sha'rawi holds that kufr means concealment: the disbeliever conceals God's existence, and a concealment presupposes something that exists. Faith is therefore the original state, and heedlessness came after it. 1

The argument from human existence

Sha'rawi notes that God taught Adam the names and had the angels prostrate before him before disbelief appeared, and that heedlessness came later and turned disbelief into a concealment of the truth. God's question in Al-Baqara 28, "how do you disbelieve in God?", is an argument from the existence He gave. 1 2

Author's view

This is Sha'rawi's reading and is attributed to him. It rests on his linguistic argument; no academic view on the meaning of kufr is given in the scan and none has been checked.

Sources

  1. Sha'rawi's Khawatir around the Holy Quran, volume one (scan copy) , p.137
  2. Sha'rawi's Khawatir around the Holy Quran, volume one (scan copy) , p.138
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Kufr as concealment of the truth”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/al-kufr-satr-al-haqq/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-23.

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