Mulhid

{{short description|Islamic religious term meaning apostate, heretic, or atheist}}

Mulhid ({{lang|ar|ملحد}} plural {{lang|ar|ملحدون}} {{Transliteration|ar|DIN|mulḥidun}} and {{lang|ar|ملاحدۃ}} {{Transliteration|ar|DIN|malāḥidah}}){{Cite book|author=Hans Wehr, J. Milton Cowan| year=1976 | title=A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic|publisher=Spoken Language Services|edition=3rd|page=859}} is an Islamic religious term meaning apostate, atheist, infidel or heretic.{{Cite encyclopedia|author=W. Madelung| year=1993| title=Mulḥid|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam| edition=Second |publisher=Brill |editor=P. Bearman |editor2=Th. Bianquis |editor3=C.E. Bosworth |editor4=E. van Donzel |editor5=W.P. Heinrichs|volume=7|page=546}}{{Cite book |last=Yates |first=William |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qYteAAAAcAAJ&dq=mulhid+infidel&pg=PA246 |title=Introduction to the Hindustani Language: In Three Parts, Viz. Grammar, Vocabulary, and Reading Lessons |date=1855 |publisher=Baptist Mission Press |language=en}} In pre-Islamic times the term was used in the literal sense of the root l-ḥ-d: "incline, deviate". Its religious meaning is based on the Quranic verses 7:180, 22:25, and 41:40.{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/penguindictionar0000nanj|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/penguindictionar0000nanj/page/230 230]|title=The Penguin Dictionary of Islam|author=Azim Nanji|publisher=Penguin UK|year=2008 |isbn=9780141013992 }} Under the Umayyad Caliphate it denoted desertion of the ummah and rebellion against legitimate caliphs. Early in the Abbasid era rationalistic theologians began using it in the sense of "heretic", and it eventually came to refer to rejection of religion as such, to materialistic scepticism and atheism. In Ottoman usage the term was commonly used in reference to Shia and certain Sufi doctrines that were considered to be subversive.