Siirah Al-KZfirUn

(TheDisbelievers)
This SGrah is Ma=, and it has 6 verses

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

Verses 1 6-

Say, " 0 disbelievers, [I] I do not worship that which you

worship, [21 n o r d o you w o r s h i p t h e One whom I
worship. [31 And neither I a m going t o worship t h a t
which you have worshipped, [41 nor will you worship
the One whom I worship. [51 For you is your faith, and
for me, my faith." [61

Virtues and Characteristics of the SGrah

Sayyidah 'xshah & reports that the Messenger of Allah has said
that it is better to recite two siirahs in the sunnah prayer of fajr, namely,
the SGrah Al-Efirtin and SGrah Al-IkhlZs. [Transmitted by Ibn Hisham as
quoted by Mazharil. Ibn Kathir cites several traditions in which a large
number of Companions report that they heard the Messenger of Allah
often recite Stirah Al-EfirGn and Al-IkhlZs in the sunnah prayer of fajr
and rnaghrib. Some of the Companions requested the Messenger of Allah
to teach them some supplications to recite a t the time of sleeping. He
taught them to recite Stirah Al-EfirGn and said that this will give them
immunity from idolatry. [Transmitted by Tirmidh; and Abii Dawiidl. SayyidnZ
 - - --

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'Zn starting from SGrah
Al-KZfirGn 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 t o Abii YalZ]. SayyidnZ '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
SGrah Al-Efirun, SErah Al-Falaq and SGrah An-NZs. [Mazhar;]
Cause of Revelation
Ibn IshZq reports from SayyidnZ Ibn 'AbbZs & t h a t WalTd Ibn
Mughirah, 'As Ibn m i l , 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 SayyidnZ Ibn
'AbbZs &, as recorded in TabarZni, 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" [Mazharil.
According to AbG Salih's report, SayyidnZ Ibn 'AbbZs & 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 t,his,
Jibra'il descended with SGrah Al-KSfirEn.
This SGrah is the SGrah 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 SErah is to
prevent or prohibit any such compromise.
,,A > > ' >A,' -
Verse [109:2] d j - ~ ;L; -+I Y (I do not worship that which you worship,)
In this Siirah, the statements are repeated. The repetition has been
explained in different ways by different authorities. Bukh5g 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 a t t h e 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 [4and 51 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.' 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'. MaulZnZ Ashraf 'Ali ThZnawi LJL; hi -J has preferred this
interpretation in Bayanul-Qur'Zn, (and the translation given above is
based on it.) However, he disagrees with BukhZrPs interpretation of the
word din, which BukhE1.11interprets as 'the religion of disbelief and the
religion of Islam' respectively, in verse [6] si.) 2; $3 - , ,.& "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'Zn, however, the word din has been interpreted as jazz or
'retribution or requital'.
Ibn Kathir prefers another interpretation. He expounds t h a t the
particle ma is used in two ways: [I] as mawsiilah or relative pronoun in
the sense of al-ladhi [that which]; and [2] as masdariyah transforming
Siirah Al-KZfirGn : 109 : 1 .. 6 901

into infinitive the verb it governs. In this Siirah, the first ma is a relative
pronoun in the sense of al-ladhi, and t h e second ma is a n infinitival
particle. Thus in verses [2 & 31 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& 51 the particle is
an infinitival particle and may be paraphrased thus: i;;l Y j &+ i b Ll Yg
j ~ k d j ~ b'I will never adopt your mode or manner of worship, nor will
you adopt the manner in which I worshipf.In this way, verses [2 & 31 show
that the objects of worship are different from each other, and verses [4&51
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, i t is seen t h a t 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 t h e Prophet by Allah $$$ and passed on to t h e 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: h. ;l J I . i *;YI $1 ill Y ''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 s? 2; &-? $ (For you is your faith, and for me, my faith), ,yields ,o,
the sense of other verses in the Qur7Zin,as for instance in [lo: 411 d3K
$k pfjj &Z J $ And if they belie > > ,,,
you, say, for me, my deeds, and for
/> ,,,
A,,
a
you, your deeds and in [28:551 @kEl $j U k E I (For us, our deeds, and
for you, your deeds). Thus the sum total of the word din, according to Ibn
KathTr, refers to the 'deeds of religion' and its purport would be the same
as explicated in BayZnul-Qur'an, in that each one will be requited for his
own deeds.
Other commentators have interpreted the two sentences in a third
way. According to them, t h e particle is retained i n both places a s a
relative pronoun, and i n both t h e sentence i s taken a s representing
present tense. They i n fact maintain t h a t t h e repetition of t h e two
sentences have been used a s a rhetorical device and employed by
deliberate design to secure emphasis. Not every repetition is unpleasant or
meaningless, even though the same idea may be reiterated by the same
Siirah Al-Efiriin : 109 : 1 - 6 902
9 , >
wording, as for instance in [94:5-61 .+I +I
> 3'
;,++I
I
' # all#>^ , A ' ', s :
&(Undoubtedly,
along with hardship there is ease. Undoubtedly, along with hardship
there is ease) Verse [6] is the repetition of verse [5] and is deliberately
reiterated to secure emphasis, as well as to reject outright the several
proposals made on different occasions. [Ibn Kathir, Ibn Jarir].
Peace Treaty with Unbelievers is Permissible in Some Cases but
not in Others
Siirah Al-KZfiriin dismisses out of hand the many proposals of
compromise offered by the pagans and declares dissociation from them.
But the Holy Qur'an itself has said in [8:611 @ g 6 I&$j (And ifp,
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 Madhah, he entered into peace treaty with the
Jews . Therefore, some of the commentators have opined that Surah
Al-KZfiriin has been abrogated. Their basic argument pivots around the
verse $? Jj &? $ (For you is your faith, and for me, my faith). They
contend that this is apparently in conflict with the ordinances of jihEd,
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]pbl $j
*?
W b l T;i (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 Siirah is not abrogated.
The proposals of compromise that were offered by the pagans at the time
of the revelation of the present Siirah are still prohibited, and the peace
treaties allowed by 8:61 or entered into by the Holy Prophet % are still
permissible. I t 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: 9% GI) 'GYI &I
(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. Siirah Al-KZfirGn
 -

denounces such treaties, and declares dissociation from paganism.

Analyzing the peace pact with the Jews, on the other hand, it is seen
clearly t h a t 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
SIirah Al-KZfiriin
Ends here