Arab atheism

"Linguistically, too, there are problems since Arabic has no precise equivalent of the English word “atheist”. The dictionary suggests mulhid, a general term which certainly includes atheists but lumps them together with other kinds of religious “deviants” and heretics."  Whittaker is wrong here.  Mulhid now only refers to someone who is anatheist, and does not apply to other forms of deviants.  He is confusing the term Zindiq (an old word) which indeed may apply to a variety of religious heretics and even to people who (secretly) believe in Zoroastrianism (while claiming to believe in Islam).