Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is facing criticism after new photos taken during a training exercise at Pearl Harbor show a tattoo of an Arabic word on his arm.

Photos show that Hegseth has the word “kafir” tattooed in Arabic below his right bicep. The phrase is used in the Quran to refer to someone who has “disbelief” or “a rejection of true belief,” according to Islamic Scholar Abdullah Al Andalusi.

The phrase appears alongside a tattoo reading “Deus Vult,” a phrase attributed as a rallying cry of the First Crusade.

Hegseth’s tattoos are drawing criticism for what some say is a sign of hostility against Muslims.

“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, who committed genocidal acts of violence against Jews, Muslims and even fellow Christians centuries ago,” Nihad Awad, national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said in a statement.

USA TODAY asked the Department of Defense for comment on the tattoos on Thursday event but did not receive an immediate response.

The tattoo controversy comes as on the heels of a security incident involving Hegseth and top government officials discussing sensitive information about U.S. attack plans over a publicly available messaging app and inadvertently adding Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, a report revealed.

Hegseth denied that he was texting about war plans, criticized Goldberg as “deceitful,” and declined to comment further on the leak while talking to reporters Monday in Hawaii.

Hegseth previously accused of Islamophobia, controversial tattoos

In December, The New Yorker reported that Hegseth was found drunk chanting, “Kill All Muslims! Kill All Muslims!” at an Ohio bar in 2015 while working for Concerned Veterans for America. Hegseth’s lawyer denied the allegations.

Hegseth, 44, told podcaster and former Navy Seal Shawn Ryan in November that he was removed from a National Guard deployment to President Joe Biden’s inauguration because his superiors found his tattoos to be “extremist.”

Hegseth, a former Fox News commentator and Army National Guard veteran, described the tattoo in question as a Jerusalem Cross and a symbol of his Christian faith.

Who is Pete Hegseth? What to know about Defense Secretary amid leak of war plans

The Associated Press reported in 2021 that 12 members of the National Guard were removed from Biden’s swearing-in ceremony because of concerns about ties to extremist groups. 

USA TODAY previously conducted an in-depth investigation of the U.S. military’s attempts to stamp out extremism in the ranks following the Jan. 6 insurrection. 

Contributing: Will Carless, Bart Jansen, Kinsey Crowley