Ink causes a stink: anger at Hegseth’s ‘infidel’ tattoo

The beleaguered US Defence Secretary is facing renewed criticism after a photo emerged showing he has the word ‘kafir’, meaning ‘infidel’ in Arabic, tattooed on his right arm.

The tattoo on Pete Hegseth's upper arm is the Arabic word for infidel. Picture: X.

Beleaguered US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth is facing renewed criticism after a photo emerged showing that he has the word “kafir”, meaning “infidel” or “nonbeliever” in Arabic, tattooed on his right arm.

The word sits below another tattoo reading “Deus Vult”, a phrase thought to be a battle cry from the 11th-century Crusades.

“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,” Nihad Awad, the national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told Newsweek.

“It appears Islam lives so rent-free in Pete Hegseth’s head that he feels the need to stamp himself with tattoos declaring his opposition to Islam alongside a tattoo declaring his affinity for the failed Crusaders.”

Kicked off the day alongside the warriors of SDVT-1 at @JointBasePHH. These SEALs are the tip of the spear, masters of stealth, endurance, and lethality. America’s enemies fear them—our allies trust them. Proud to spend time with America’s best. pic.twitter.com/a7nenKpCuY

— Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (@SecDef) March 25, 2025

The photo was taken this week during a training exercise at Pearl Harbour and posted on Mr Hegseth’s social media account.

Mr Hegseth, who is already under the spotlight for sharing details of a planned US attack on Houthi targets on a shared Signal chat, has courted anger among Muslims with the picture.

“Hegseth just got a kafir tattoo under his Deus Vult tattoo — a Crusader slogan,“ wrote pro-Palestinian activist Nerdeen Kiswani, a Muslim, on social media. ”It isn’t just a personal choice; it’s a clear symbol of Islamophobia from the man overseeing US wars.”

Muslims should not be offended or shocked at Pete Hegseth’s new ‘kafir’ tattoo or his crusader ‘Deus Vult’ tattoo.

He’s merely displaying America’s foreign policy and mindset to Islam and Muslims.

Where have you been for the last 25 years? https://t.co/mBgWV8q32bpic.twitter.com/KlfIChejit

— Dilly Hussain (@DillyHussain88) March 26, 2025

British journalist Dilly Hussain wrote: “Muslims should not be offended or shocked at Pete Hegseth’s new ‘kafir’ tattoo or his crusader ‘Deus Vult’ tattoo. He’s merely displaying America’s foreign policy and mindset to Islam and Muslims.”

In November Mr Hegseth, 44, told a podcast that he was removed from a National Guard deployment to president Joe Biden’s inauguration because his superiors deemed his tattoos to be “extremist”.