After being embroiled in a major scandal over plans to attack the Houthis in Yemen that were leaked in a Signal group chat, where the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic was erroneously added to the conversation, the United States Secretary of Defense once again ignited outrage, this time over a tattoo that was revealed only recently after photos of him during a visit to a military base went viral on social media.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on March 25th, when the tattoo was revealed for the first time through photos posted on his official X (formerly known as Twitter) account.
In one photo, the former Fox News host and Army National Guard officer turned defense secretary had a tattoo that says “kafir,“ an Arabic word used in Islam to describe a non-believer. He appears to have had the tattoo, which was located on his bicep below his other contentious tattoo, which says "Deus Vult" (a Latin phrase that translates to "God wills it"), in another Instagram photo posted in July 2024.
Hegseth was previously under fire for his other tattoos, such as the Jerusalem cross on his chest. This symbol became popularly known as the Crusader’s cross because of its wide use during the Crusades. He has also shown other tattoos that indicate his fascination with “crusader aesthetics,“ which is a growing trend among the American far right.
Some people on social media criticized him for getting a tattoo that is widely considered to be offensive among Muslims. Muslim American organizations and other rights advocacy groups also argued that a high-ranking government official such as Hegseth displaying the word "kafir" as a tattoo signals a hostile stance towards Islam.
The tattoo particularly attracted criticism from prominent pro-Palestinian American Muslim activists, such as Nerdeen Kiswani and Nihad Awad, the national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest American Muslim rights organization in the United States.
“This isn’t just a personal choice; it’s a clear symbol of Islamophobia from the man overseeing U.S. wars,“ Kiswani posted on social media.
“‘Kafir’ has been weaponized by far-right Islamophobes to mock and vilify Muslims. It’s not about his personal beliefs. It’s about how these beliefs translate into policy – how they shape military decisions, surveillance programs, and foreign interventions targeting Muslim countries,“ she added.
“Tattooing the Arabic word kafir – which refers to someone who knowingly denies or conceals fundamental divine truths – on his body is a display of both anti-Muslim hostility and personal insecurity,“ Awad told Newsweek.
Awad and Kiswani have been known for spreading anti-Israel messages. During the American Muslims For Palestine (AMP) convention last November 2023, more than a month following the October 7 attacks by Hamas that killed 1,200 Israelis and took hundreds of Israelis and foreigners hostage, Awad said he was happy to see Gazans "break the siege" on October 7th, adding that Israel, whom he described as an “occupying power“ has no right to self-defense.
Meanwhile, during an International Al-Quds Day rally held in New York City in April 2023, months before the attack, Kiswani, who is also a member of the pro-Palestinian organization Within Our Lifetime, said that a Jewish state, which she said was built on “dispossession of Palestinian people and is maintained by Jewish and white supremacy,“ has no right to exist and that one must commit to abolishing Israel if they are committed to “Palestinian liberation.“
