US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth is again the focus of scrutiny over his tattoos, with controversy arising this time over a word in Arabic on his upper arm.
In a series of photos posted to social media, taken during Mr Hegseth's recent visit to Pearl Habour in Hawaii, the word “kafir” in Arabic script – meaning “infidel” or “unbeliever” – can be seen on his right bicep as he works out with troops.
Above that tattoo, another reads “Deus vult” – or “God wills it” – a slogan from the medieval Crusades against the Muslims in the Middle East. He also has a tattoo in Hebrew that reads “Yeshua”, or “Jesus”.
It is unclear when Mr Hegseth got the “kafir” tattoo, but he received it long before taking up his role as Secretary of Defence. He has had it for at least 18 months, as it was visible in a video posted to his Instagram showing him swimming in the Hudson River. Mr Hegseth has previously faced criticism for his tattoos, including “Deus vult”, which is sometimes associated with far-right groups.
After the latest photos were posted this week, Mr Hegseth faced a renewed online backlash, with one Palestinian activist calling it a “clear symbol of Islamophobia”.
“'Kafir' has been weaponised by far-right Islamophobes to mock and vilify Muslims,” Nerdeen Kiswani, founder of Within Our Lifetime – United for Palestine, wrote on X. “These tattoos aren’t harmless – they reflect the policies that continue to kill and oppress Muslims worldwide.”
The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment.
Mohammed Abu-Nimer, a professor in the International Peace and Conflict Resolution programme at American University in Washington, echoed those sentiments.
“To have such tattoos on the arm of the Defence Minister of the US sends a very negative message to the Muslim world, and particularly to the Arab region,” he told The National. “This is not something that will build trust. This is not supporting a message of reconciliation or a message of understanding.”
He explained that the terms can be viewed as offensive to Muslims, and also feed into a world view held by extremists of an ongoing clash of civilisations.
“The radical fanatics, if you want to call them that, they use it to say, 'You see, look, this is what we're dealing with, these are Crusaders' messages,” Prof Abu-Nimer said, adding that it takes cultural discourse back a thousand years, pitting a Christian West against a Muslim East for ownership of Jerusalem and the Holy Lands.
The tattoo is popular with some veterans who have served in the Middle East, particularly Iraq and Afghanistan, and soldiers serving in the same units often get matching tattoos to commemorate their time in the military. Mr Hegseth was in the army as well as the Minnesota National Guard, and served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“The use of it by the military even feeds into this macho [idea], you know, fighters who come to challenge the locals, that come to challenge ISIS, to say, 'you call me kafir? I'm a kafir and I'm going to kill you,” Prof Abu-Nimer said, explaining that the word was a great insult in the Muslim world.
Kevin Blankinship, professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at Brigham Young University in Utah, describes the “kafir” tattoo as a kind of warpaint.
“This is kind of reclaiming what they [US soldiers] perceived as a slur against them from Muslim combatants,” he told The National. He added that, while the term is offensive, it is important to also look at it in the context of the US military, and that Mr Hegseth may simply have wanted to show solidarity with his fellow soldiers.
Prof Blankinship explained that calling someone a “kafir” is a fraught issue within Islam itself, pointing out that ISIS has used the term to justify killings of fellow Muslims, and so the reaction from the community was understandable.
“The term itself, in terms of the history of the term and the history of the religion, there's a lot of baggage there, and a lot of different issues at play,” Prof Blankinship said.
Mr Hegseth's motives for getting the tattoo are unclear, but whatever the reason, the optics are not ideal.
“If you're trying to build bridges with the Muslim community, it's not what you would do, if that's top of mind,” Prof Blankinship said. “But if your goal is to project strength, project aggression to who the government deems as its enemies – that's certainly a blunt instrument, it's casting a wide net that some people might perceive as directed at them, even if it's not directed at them – then yeah, it's going to ruffle feathers.”
