The US Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, has revealed an eyebrow-raising tattoo written in Arabic which reads “Kafir,” a term translated as non-believer in God or infidel.
Images circulated online of Hegseth bearing the tattoo, located on the inner bicep of his right arm, prompting angry reactions online and raising questions over the reason behind such a tattoo.
Some social media users have deemed the tattoo as Islamophobic in nature, given his history of making inflammatory comments against Muslims in the past. He once drunkenly shouted “Kill all Muslims” at an event for military veterans in 2015, The New Yorker reported last year.
In 2018, while speaking at an event in Jerusalem, Hegseth said there was “no reason why the miracle of re-establishing the temple on Temple Mount [Al-Aqsa] isn’t possible”, which could be interpreted as wanting the destruction of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
In his 2020 book American Crusade, Hegseth described Islam as an “enemy of the west”, and presented as fact a number of distorted views on Muslims.
On Wednesday, Hegseth posted images of himself in military training gear, while visiting an army base in Hawaii. The tattoo is visible in one of the images. The tattoo appears to be new, as images dating back to November 2024 don’t show it.
Hegseth, serving since January following the election of President Donald Trump, possesses a number of eyebrow-raising tattoos that have been the subject of much speculation concerning the motive behind them.
Also on his bicep, he has a tattoo of the Latin phrase “Deus vult,” translated to “God wills it,” a Christian saying used as battle cry during the Crusades in the Middle Ages, when Christian armies fought religious wars primarily against Muslims in the modern-day Levant.
On his chest, Hegseth has a tattoo of the Jerusalem Cross, a Christian cross variant also associated with the Crusades.
Hegseth’s “Kafir” tattoo has also sparked some ridicule due to the irony of having religious-based tattoos , when the Arabic word denotates someone who doesn’t believe in the existence of God.
In the US, the cross, alongside “Deus vult,” have been associated with some Christian nationalist, far-right and neo-Nazi movements.
In 2021, Hegseth was banned from attending the inauguration of then-President Joe Biden due to his tattoo, after law enforcement officials removed 12 people due to security precautions. Fears of extremist incidents were rife during that period, following the 6 January Capitol riots.
Hegseth has defended those tattoos, calling them a symbol of his Christian faith.
The Defence Secretary previously served as a television presenter on Fox News, and is a former member of Army National Guard, having fought in US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Before his appointment as Defence Secretary, Hegseth faced allegations of sexual misconduct, alcohol abuse and financial mismanagement,
Hegseth has been embroiled in another scandal this week, after a journalist from The Atlantic was accidently added to a chat disclosing the US’s full plan for its deadly attack on Yemen’s Houthis on 18 March.
The Defence Secretary has been described as “unprofessional” and “embarrassing” for the incident, and has been criticised for not yet apologising.
