Surah Al-Kauthar

The River or Fountain of Kauthar

Verse [108:1]  ([O Prophet,] surely, We have given you Al-Kauthar [a river in Paradise].) The word Al-Kauthar1 literally means 'abundant goodness'. Imam Bukhari has recorded on the authority of Sa'id Ibn Jubair  that Ibn 'Abbas  said about 'al-Kauthar': 'It is the abundant goodness that Allah gave to him [Holy Prophet ]'. A special pupil of Ibn 'Abbas  said: "I asked Sa'id Ibn Jubair  that people claim that it is a river in Paradise." Sa'id Ibn Jubair  replied that the river in Paradise is part of the goodness that Allah gave him. Therefore, Mujahid interprets that it is the abundant goodness of this world, as well as of the next world. This explanation includes the river in Paradise and other things as well.

The following Hadith is recorded in Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud and Nasa'i from Sayyidna Anas  that he said:

"While we were with the Messenger of Allah  in the mosque, he went into some kind of slumber or doziness. Then he lifted his head smiling. We asked : 'O Messenger of Allah! What has caused you to smile?' He replied: 'A Surah has just been revealed to me.' Then he recited Bismillah and Surah Al-Kauthar. Then he asked: 'Do you know what is Al-Kauthar?' We replied: 'Allah and His Messenger know best,' He said: 'It is a river that my Lord, the Mighty and Majestic, has promised me and it has abundant goodness. It is a fountain where my Ummah will come on the Day of Judgement. Its containers are as numerous as the stars in the sky. Then a servant of Allah from among them will be prevented from it, and I will say: 'O Lord! Verily, he is from my Ummah [followers.] ' Then Allah will say: 'You do not know what he introduced [or innovated] after you.'"

This is the wording of Muslim. Ibn Kathir, having cited this Tradition, writes further:

"It is reported regarding the description of the fountain on the Day of Judgement that two channels will lead from the sky to supply the fountain with the water of Kauthar. It will have more cups than the stars in the sky."

The Tradition cited above clarifies many points.

[1] It indicates the cause of the revelation of Surah Al-Kauthar.

[2] It gives its authentic interpretation, that is, 'abundant goodness' and that it includes the fountain of Kauthar which will quench the thirst of the Prophet's followers on the Day of Judgement.

[3] The actual river of Kauthar is in Paradise, and the fountain of Kauthar will be on the Plain of Gathering. Two channels will flow from the river of Paradise into the fountain of Gathering, augmenting its supply of water.

[4] It reconciles the narratives that tell us that the believers will arrive at the fountain of Kauthar before their entry into Paradise.

[5] Some people will be turned away from the fountain, because they later on turned away from Islam, or they were not Muslims at all, but expressed their Islam only hypocritically. Their hypocrisy was exposed after the Holy Prophet . Allah knows best!

There are Traditions that describe the cleanness and sweetness of water of Kauthar, and that its banks are adorned with pearls.These qualities cannot be compared with anything in this world.

If the revelation of Surah Al-Kauthar is in response to the taunting of the heathens who called him 'abtar' because he had lost his sons, as explained earlier, this Surah comforts him. They used to say that when he would pass away, there shall be none to take his name on account of having no male offspring and his activities will cease. This Surah tells him that he has been granted Al-Kauthar and completely dismisses the reproach of his enemies, in that his lineage does not stop here in this world, but his spiritual lineage will continue till the Day of Gathering. His spiritual sons and daughters will outnumber the Ummahs of the previous Prophets. They will also enjoy the greatest respect and honour.

Prayer and Sacrifice

Verse [108:2]  (So, offer salah [prayer] to your Lord, and sacrifice.) The imperative inhar is derived from nahr which means 'to sacrifice by stabbing upwards into the jugular vein [the way of slaughter for camels as opposed to other cattle]'. As the Arabs generally used to sacrifice camels, the verse employs the imperative wanhar.Occasionally, the word nahr is used in the general sense of 'sacrifice'.

Verse [108:1] vehemently denounces the false notion of the unbelievers and gives glad tidings of Kauthar to the Messenger of Allah  in this world as well as in the next world. He will have the abundant goodness in both the worlds immeasurably. The current verse directs the Holy Prophet  the way to express his gratitude to Allah on this good tiding: [1] prayer; and [2] sacrifice. Salah is the highest form of physical worship; and sacrifice is highest form of pecuniary or monetary form of worship.

Sacrifice in the name of Allah is a fight against idolatry, because the idolaters used to sacrifice in the name of their idols. On that basis, Islamic sacrifice is distinctive and important. On another occasion, the Qur'an jointly mentions prayer and sacrifice, thus: [6:162]

My prayer, my offering, my life and my death are all for Allah, the Lord of the worlds. [6:162]

According to Sayyidna Ibn 'Abbas , 'Ata', Mujahid, Hasan Basri (R.A) and others, the imperative wanhar means 'sacrifice or offer oblation'. Some people have attributed to some leading exegetes that they have taken this imperative to mean: 'Fold your hands or arms on the chest' Ibn Kathir holds such narrations as 'munkar', (that is, a narration which is narrated by a weak narrator and contradicts the narration of a stronger and more reliable authority.)

The Enemy of the Prophet  is Cut Off

Verse [108:3]  (Surely, it is your enemy whose traces are cut off.) The word shani' as used in the original is derived from sha'n and means 'one who hates, traducer, insulter'. This verse was revealed in connection with the unbelievers who used to taunt the Messenger of Allah  and referred to him as 'abtar'. Most narratives identify the traducer as 'As Ibn Wa'il, others identify him as 'Uqbah and yet others identify him as Ka'b Ibn Ashraf. Allah granted the Messenger of Allah  the Kauthar, that is, abundant goodness which includes a multitude of children. How wonderful are the works of Allah! There is no scarcity of lineal children of the holy Prophet . Furthermore, a Prophet is the spiritual father of his entire Ummah which comprises his spiritual children. The Holy Prophet  is the spiritual father of his entire Ummah till the end of time and as such will have the largest number of spiritual children compared to the Ummahs of the previous Prophets. In this way, the enemy has been rebutted, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, their argument has been rebuffed that it is not the Prophet , but his enemies are, 'abtar' or cut off.

Note

Imagine how Allah has raised the name of the Holy Prophet  and exalted his reputation in every nook and corner of the world since the inception of his prophet-hood till today, and it will continue to be so until the end of time. His blessed name is recited along with Allah's name five times a day from the minarets. In the Hereafter, he will be granted the (Al-Maqam Al-Mahmud) Praised Station where he will make the Grand Intercession on behalf of the entire progeny of 'Adam (A.S). On the contrary, ask the world history: Where are the children of 'As Ibn Wa'il? Where are the children of Ka'b Ibn Ashraf? where are the children of 'Uqbah, and what happened to their families? Their very own names have been lost to the world. No one cares to remember them. They have become unknown who thought that soon the Holy Prophet will become unknown. They have left this world and the strings of their lineage have been cut off. Their names have been preserved in Islamic traditions only for purposes of interpretation of relevant verses.  "So, O People of insight, take note!" [59:2].

Alhamdulillah
The Commentary on
Surah Al-Kauthar
Ends Here

Surah Al-Kafirun

Surah Al-Kafirun

(The Disbelievers)

This Surah is Makki, and it has 6 verses

With the name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Very-Merciful

Verses 1 - 6

Say, "O disbelievers, [1] I do not worship that which you worship, [2] nor do you worship the One whom I worship. [3] And neither I am going to worship that which you have worshipped, [4] nor will you worship the One whom I worship. [5] For you is your faith, and for me, my faith." [6]

Virtues and Characteristics of the Surah

Sayyidah 'A'shah  reports that the Messenger of Allah  has said that it is better to recite two surahs in the sunnah prayer of fajr, namely, the Surah Al-Kafirun and Surah Al-Ikhlas. [Transmitted by Ibn Hisham as quoted by Mazhari]. Ibn Kathir cites several traditions in which a large number of Companions report that they heard the Messenger of Allah often recite Surah Al-Kafirun and Al-Ikhlas in the sunnahprayer of fajr and maghrib. Some of the Companions requested the Messenger of Allah  to teach them some supplications to recite at the time of sleeping. He taught them to recite Surah Al-Kafirun and said that this will give them immunity from idolatry. [Transmitted by Tirmidhi and Abu Dawud]. Sayyidna Jubair Ibn Mut'im  says that the Messenger of Allah  asked him whether he wished to be the happiest, most prosperous and well-to-do person among his comrades when he goes out on a journey. He replied: "Yes, Messenger of Allah, I certainly do wish that." The Holy Prophet  asked him to recite the last five surahs of the Qur'an starting from Surah Al-Kafirun to the end, and to start every surah with Bismillah, and to end with Bismillah. Sayyidna Jubair  says that in those days he used to be distressed, miserable and man of little provisions for journeys compared to his comrades. But when he started acting upon this teaching of the Messenger of Allah , he became more prosperous than others. [Mazhari with reference to Abu Yala]. Sayyidna 'Ali  reports that once a scorpion bit the Messenger of Allah, so he asked for water and salt. He applied the water on the spot where the scorpion bit him, and he recited Surah Al-Kafirun, Surah Al-Falaq and Surah An-Nas. [Mazhari]

Cause of Revelation

Ibn Ishaq reports from Sayyidna Ibn 'Abbas  that Walid Ibn Mughirah, 'As Ibn Wa'il, Aswad Ibn 'Abdul-Muttalib and Umayyah Ibn Khalaf approached the Messenger of Allah  and proposed a compromise to him to the effect that he should worship their idols for a year, and they would worship Allah for a year. [Qurtubi]. According to Sayyidna Ibn 'Abbas , as recorded in Tabarani, the pagans of Makkah proposed to the Messenger of Allah:  "We shall give you so much of wealth that you will become the richest man in Makkah; we shall give you whichever woman you like in marriage; we are willing to follow and obey you as our leader on condition that you do not speak ill of our gods. If you do not agree to this, then let us agree that you worship our gods for a year and we would worship your God for another year" [Mazhari].

According to Abu Salih's report, Sayyidna Ibn 'Abbas  narrates that the pagans of Makkah made the following proposal for compromise: "At least touch some of our gods, we will believe in you." Upon this, Jibra'il (A.S) descended with Surah Al-Kafirun.

This Surah is the Surah of disavowal from the actions of the pagans, and enjoins the Muslims to worship Allah alone to the exclusion of all forms of pagan worship.

The Traditions cited above indicate that the pagans had made many proposals to the Holy Prophet  not once or in a single session, but on different occasions and in different sessions in the hope that at one time or another a compromise might be reached. Therefore, there was a need to respond to all the proposals definitely and decisively, and thus frustrate their hope once and for all. All these incidents might have taken place at different times and different places. The purport of the Surah is to prevent or prohibit any such compromise.

Verse [109:2]  (I do hot worship that which you worship,) In this Surah, the statements are repeated. The repetition has been explained in different ways by different authorities. Bukhari explains it thus: When two identical, or near identical, expressions occur side by side, many commentators interpret one of them as happening in the present time and the other as going to happen in the future time. Thus there is no meaningless repetition. The second and the third verses refer to the present time, meaning 'I do not worship at the present time what you are worshipping, nor do you worship at the present time what I am worshipping'. That is, 'I believe in Oneness of Allah and worship Him only, whereas you believe in multiple gods and goddesses and worship them'. Verses [4 and 5] refer to the future time, meaning 'neither is there a possibility that I will ever worship what you are going to worship in the future, nor will you worship what I will persist in worshipping.1 In other words, 'I will persist in my belief of Divine Oneness and worship of Him and you will persist in belief of multiple gods and goddesses and worship of them'. Maulana Ashraf 'Ali Thanawi  has preferred this interpretation in Bayanul-Qur'an, (and the translation given above is based on it.) However, he disagrees with Bukhari's interpretation of the word din, which Bukhari interprets as 'the religion of disbelief and the religion of Islam' respectively, in verse [6]  "For you is your faith, and for me, my faith" meaning the proposed compromise or peace agreement is not acceptable. I shall continue to follow my faith and you may go on following your faith, and suffer its disastrous consequences. In Bayanul-Qur'an, however, the word din has been interpreted as jaza' or 'retribution or requital'.

Ibn Kathir prefers another interpretation. He expounds that the particle ma is used in two ways: [1] as mawsulah or relative pronoun in the sense of al-ladhi [that which]; and [2] as masdariyah transforming into infinitive the verb it governs. In this Surah, the firstma is a relative pronoun in the sense of al-ladhi, and the second ma is an infinitival particle. Thus in verses [2 & 3] the particle is a relative pronoun and may be paraphrased thus: 'I do not worship the deities that you worship nor do you worship the One Whom I worship' and in verses [4 & 5] the particle is an infinitival particle and may be paraphrased thus:  'I will never adopt your mode or manner of worship, nor will you adopt the manner in which I worship'. In this way, verses [2 & 3] show that the objects of worship are different from each other, and verses [4&5] show the differences in the modes of worship. In sum, 'neither our objects of worship, nor our manner of worship, are commonly shared by us; they are different.' In this way, it is seen that there is no real repetition, because while the formal expressions might be identical or near identical, but deeper semantic meanings are different. The mode of worship was revealed to the Prophet by Allah vfgf and passed on to the Muslims through him. The pagan manner of worship is self-fabricated. Ibn Kathir prefers this interpretation, and says that this is the exact meaning that emanates from the credo of Islam:  "There is no object worthy of worship except Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah". Only the mode and manner of worship sanctioned by Allah is credible, and should be followed by Muslims. Ibn Kathir adds that the concluding verse  (For you is your faith, and for me, my faith) yields the sense of other verses in the Qur'an, as for instance in [10:41] And if they belie you, say, for me, my deeds, and for you, your deeds and in [28:55]  (For us, our deeds, and for you, your deeds). Thus the sum total of the word din, according to Ibn Kathir, refers to the 'deeds of religion' and its purport would be the same as explicated in Bayanul-Qur'an, in that each one will be requited for his own deeds.

Other commentators have interpreted the two sentences in a third way. According to them, the particle is retained in both places as a relative pronoun, and in both the sentence is taken as representing present tense. They in fact maintain that the repetition of the two sentences have been used as a rhetorical device and employed by deliberate design to secure emphasis. Not every repetition is unpleasant or meaningless, even though the same idea may be reiterated by the same wording, as for instance in [94:5-6]  (Undoubtedly, along with hardship there is ease. Undoubtedly, along with hardship there is ease) Verse [6] is the repetition of verse [5] and is deliberately reiterated to secure emphasis, as well as to reject outright the several proposals made on different occasions. [Ibn Kathir, Ibn Jarir].

Peace Treaty With Unbelievers is Permissible in Some Cases But Not in Others

Surah Al-Kafirun dismisses out of hand the many proposals of compromise offered by the pagans and declares dissociation from them. But the Holy Qur'an itself has said in [8:61]  (And if they tilt towards peace, you tilt towards it." that is, enter into peace treaty with the infidels or pagans or non-Muslims. Moreover, when the Holy Prophet  migrated to Madinah, he entered into peace treaty with the Jews . Therefore, some of the commentators have opined that Surah Al-Kafirun has been abrogated. Their basic argument pivots around the verse  (For you is your faith, and for me, my faith). They contend that this is apparently in conflict with the ordinances of jihad, but this is not true, because the verse does not guarantee, nor does it even permit, the infidels to maintain their infidelity. It simply means what is stated in [28:55]  (For us, our deeds, and for you, your deeds), that is, as you sow, so shall you reap. In fact, the correct position held by the majority of the scholars is that this Surah is not abrogated. The proposals of compromise that were offered by the pagans at the time of the revelation of the present Surah are still prohibited, and the peace treaties allowed by 8:61 or entered into by the Holy Prophet  are still permissible. It is necessary to understand the circumstances and conditions of the treaty and take a proper decision accordingly. In one of his Traditions, the Holy Prophet laid down the general principle of peace treaty with the infidels and pagans, thus:  (Every compromise is permitted except the one which turns prohibited things into lawful and lawful things into forbidden.) If the various peace proposals made by the pagans are carefully analyzed, they were all certainly and definitely purported to mix elements of pagan beliefs and practices with Islamic beliefs and practices, thus creating confusion; and in some cases they required Muslims to renounce Islam [albeit temporarily] and commit themselves to paganism. Surah Al-Kafirun denounces such treaties, and declares dissociation from paganism. Analyzing the peace pact with the Jews, on the other hand, it is seen clearly that it did not in anyway require Muslims to denounce or renounce Islam, nor did it require them to mix elements of un-Islamic beliefs with the true faith. Islam is the religion that stands for tolerance, kindness, politeness and peace more than any other religion. However, all these ethical principles can be applied in the matters of human rights. There is no room for compromise in the matter of Divine Law or the basic tenets of Divine religion. Allah knows best!

Alhamdulillah
The Commentary on
Surah Al-Kafirun
Ends Here