Surah Al Kaafirun

Have you ever pondered upon the profound meaning of Surah

Al-Kaafirun[109] in the Quran?Say: O ye that reject faith! I worship not
that which ye worship Nor will ye worship what I worship And i will
not worship that which you have been wont to worship Nor will ye
worship that which I worship To you be your way, and to me mine.
Surah Al-Kaafirun is a short Makkan chapter in the Quran which deals
mainly about the rejecters of faith [the kaafir]. The word kaafir denotes
the inability to accept Truth and the injustice of hiding it to oneself and to
others.
The intensity of its repetitive words [to worship] has a p o w e r f u l
impact on the human brain. It is said that the infidels
o f M a k k a h proposed the Messenger of Allah [peace and blessings be
upon him] to worship their gods for a year, and then they would
worship Allah the next year along with hi m. As a response
to their absurd proposal, this Surah was revealed, containing an order to
the noble prophet to declare his rejection to all their forms of worship and
to dissociate with them in all matters of faith.
The surah starts with a firm command: Qul: tell them, O Muhammad.
The tone is
harsh and shows Allahs disgust about the illogical proposal
of the ignorant Makkans. At that point, you may ask, why is this
proposal illogical? It sounds rather fair that all human beings will be able
to live together in peace and harmony? You may think that unity of
mankind is best shown when we accept tolerance in worship. The fact is,
we cannot confine with illogical statements because human beings have
been gifted with the unique faculty of reason. No other creatures [except

the jinns] have been endowed with the faculty of thinking, reasoning,
reflecting, analyzing and choosing right or wrong.
Denying the Creator of the Universe who has created every single thing
on earth, is pure ingratitude and pure folly. No one can accept it. I mean
no person of conscience!!!
Indeed, those who have taken this life as mere play and who refuse to see
the truth, have ruined their lives. As the Quran points out, these people
have taken their passions for their gods and could not think as normal
human beings. They are therefore worse than beasts and wild
animals who cannot reason.
This is surely the state of Kufr. May Allah protect us against this
forever, insha Allah. It is narrated by I mam Musli m that the
Messenger of Allah [peace be upon hi m] used to recite this
Surah with Surah al-Ikhlaas in two rak`ahs following tawaaf of
the Ka`bah; it is also narrated by Musli m that he used to
recite them in the two rak`ahs of fajr prayer; and Imam Ahmad
narrates that the Messenger of Allah used to recite them in the two
rak`ahs before fajr prayer and in the two rak`ahs of maghrib
prayer.It has also been narrated that Surah al-Kaafirun is equivalent to
one quarter of the Quran. As for the esteem in which the Holy
Prophet held this Surah, it can be judged from the following few
ahadith:Both Fardah bin Naufal and Abdur Rahman bin Naufal had stated
that their father, Naufal bin Mu`awiyah al-Ashjai, said to the Holy
Prophet (upon who be peace):
" Tea c h m e s o m e t h i n g w h i c h I m a y r e c i t e a t t h e t i m e I
go to bed.
The prophet [peace be upon him] replied:

"Recite Qul ya-ayyuhal kafirun to the end and then sleep, for thisis
immunity from polytheism
Musnad Ahmad. According to Ibn Abbas, the Prophet said to the people:
"Should I tell you the word which will protect you from polytheism? It is
that you should recite Qul ya-ayyuhal kafirun when you go to bed. "
(Abu Ya`la, Tabarani).This Surah frees the mind from shirk which is
the greatest among sins. Anyone who dies with an atom of shirk, or
even smaller, will be thrown in the hellfire. And we should all be aware
of the impact of shirk in our day to day life. By constantly reading it and
pondering upon its words, it purifies the soul and cleanses it from
any misconception in terms of worship. Moreover, it is an order to purify
our faith and the Words include all those who
disbelieve in the world although those specifically addressed
here, are the pagans of Quraish. Indeed, the Words of Allah contain
the key to paradise and anyone who reads it with the hope of
obtaining salvation will obtain Allahs mercy. This surah contains
injunctions against polytheism; it is a cure against passion, greed,
obstination
andvest ed interest. Those infidels could not understand the b
eauti ful message of Tauhid because their hearts, eyes and ears
were blurred by the ornament of this world. Many among them could
not renounce to their gods and goddesses because they were trading
in idols and this transaction made them earn lots of money.
Besides, they could not reject their forefathers customs as the latters
teaching was ingrained within their cultures and traditions. In order to
stop him from propagating the message of monotheism, they
offered hi m several options: beautiful women, high status,
prestige and money but he remained firm on the path of

truth.According to Hadrat Abdullah bin Abbas, the

Quraish proposed to the Noble Prophet;
"We shall give you so much of wealth that you will become the
richest man of Makkah; we shall give you whichever woman you like in
marriage; we are prepared to follow and obey you as our leader, only on
the condition that you will not speak ill of our gods.
Said bin Mina (the freed slave of Abul Bakhtari) has
r e l a t e d t h a t Wal i d b i n Mughirah, As bin Wail, Aswad bin alMuttalib and Umayyah bin Khalaf met theHoly Prophet (upon whom
be peace) and said to him:
" O Muhammad [pbuh] let us agree that we would worship
your God and you would worship our gods, and we would make
you a partner in all our works. If what you have brought was better
than what we possess, we would be partners init with You, and have
our share in it, and if what we possess is better than what you
have brought, you would be partner in it with us and have your share
of it. "
The Almighty revealed in terse verses, starting with the imperative Qul:
I will not follow your mode of worship and I will worship only Allah
in theway which pleases Him.
This implies that the polytheists are misguided and that
Muhammad should not accept their ways because to follow them
means to accept kufr [disbelief] and kufr is ignorance and all forms of
ignorance is darkness and darkness is the opposite of light. Allah, the sole
creator of the universe has sent a prescribed form of worship for the
whole humanity through the noble prophet Muhammad. It is for this
reason that the testimony of the Muslim is Laa ilaha ill Allah,
Muhammadur-Rasulullah None is worthy of worship except

Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. And there is

no way to worship Him except that which was brought by the Messenger
of Allah, peace be upon him. Now, it is clear that this message does
not only address the people in the time of Muhammad [pbuh].
Rather, this is a message for mankind until doomsday. The kaafir is
in a state of confusion and darkness. Their status is that of Najaassun,
not because we want to despise them. No!!! Not at all!!! This fact is
stated in chapter 9verse 28 of the Quran itself.O ye who believe! Truly
the pagans are unclean...In chapter An Nissa, verse 117, Allah
says:[The Pagans], leaving Him, call but upon female deities: they call
but upon satan the persistent rebel!
Conclusion
The verses are full of tension. The readers can feel Allahs anger
upon the non believers who have rejected truth and have
adopted falsehood. Thi s is a fir m warning against their
treachery. Since then, no believer is allowed to believe or accept
their creed. This is why marrying someone who has denied Allah as the
Unique Creator of the Universe, is unacceptable. It is clear that two
people who do not share the same philosophy of life, who do not believe
in destiny good and bad, who do not think when he will die, he will
resurrect and taken into actions; such couple will not be able to live as life
partners. Truth and falsehood cannot co-exist in the end truth will become
apparent and it will be too late to mend.
Islam stands as the only way of life which teaches monotheism and
condemns all association whatsoever with the Almighty Allah. And the
surah beautifully sums up the separation that exists between a true
believer blessed with light and the rejecter of faith, condemned to suffer

for his treachery and to agonize forever in hellfire. Now you Muslims
and Muslimahs, will you after this, continue to eat what kaafir eat,
attend their ceremonies and do iftar in their company? Will you give
evidence against yoursel f on the day of Qiyamah, when you
will stand alone for your judgement?
I am convinced that you wont, so please take your own
responsibilities.
Read Surah Al Kaafirun as much as you can with
understanding and read it with the hope that Allah will cure
your heart from all for ms of shirk and kufr. As you may be
well-aware shirk is the only sin which will not be forgiven
on the Day of Judgment.

May Allah, the Lord of the Universe bless you

Ammaara Uddeen