109. SURAH AL-KAFIRUN (THE INFIDELS)

NAME: The Surah takes its name from the word ‘Kafirun’ occurring in the first verse.
TIME OF REVELATION: It is Makkan, and was revealed in the last stage of the Makkan period. CENTRAL THEME: Expression and declaration of positive unconcern and total aversion for idol worship and the religion of the infidels.

ORDER OF THE VERSES: In Verse No.1, the Prophet has been directed to address the infidels directly and to make an unambiguous declaration.

In Verses Nos. 2and 3, through the Prophet the declaration is made about his stand regarding worship and about their stand.

Verses Nos. 4and 5declare that in the matter of worship the question of tolerance or accepting a compromise formula does not arise.

In Verse No.6, there is a clear declaration of total disconnection with the religion of the infidels.

HADITH: It is confirmed through the hadith that the Prophet had recited, in the first two rakaat before the Farz prayer of Fajr and on the occasion of his last Hajj in the two rakaat of tawaf, Surah Al-Kafirun and Surah Ikhlas. (Muslim Kitabu-Salatil-Musafireen, narrated by Abu Huraira and Kitabul Hajj, narrated by Jabir bin Abdullah).

109. SURAH AL-KAFIRUN (THE INFIDELS) Ayah:6

In the name of Allah Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

1. Say¹: O you that reject Faith! ²

2. I worship not that which you worship, ³

3. Nor do you worship that which I worship; ⁴

4. And I shall not worship that which you have worshipped. ⁵

5. Nor will you worship that which I worship. ⁶

6. To you your religion, and to me my religion. ⁷

1. The Prophet is the direct addressee.

2. Here the addressees are those to whom the truth was very clearly explained by the Prophet, and inspite of that they persisted with their rejection of the faith.

The literal meaning of the word ‘kafir’ is one who rejects or denies, and in the terminology of the Quran it is the opposite of the word Momin (faithful). By kafir is meant that person who refuses to accept the religion preached by the Prophet, Muhammad (p.b.u.h.). The basic teaching of this religion is that there is no god beside Allah, and therefore, man should worship Allah only, and should not associate anybody with Him in this worship. A person who worships any being other than Allah indulges in polytheism, whether it may be in the form of idolatry, “bhoomi pooja” or whether he may be invoking some devi or devta for assistance, or he may be singing the bhajan of some imaginary god. And any religion which allows this kind of association of others with Allah is a polytheistic religion.

Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h) was sent down by Allah as His Prophet with the sole purpose of cutting the root of polytheism and to invite man to worship the One and Only Allah. The call given by him was presented with acceptable evidences and proofs, and he had adopted the best way of persuasion. These missionary efforts continued for a long time, till the truth was made absolutely clear and Allah’s argument was unambiguously conveyed to His slaves. After reaching this stage of the Mission, the people found to be persisting with their infidelity and were bent on harming the Prophet and opposing him, were addressed as O, You who reject Faith! It was quite appropriate. The purpose of this address was not to abuse or reproach the opponents, but to openly declare them to be the deniers of Truth, so that it should be made clear that the point, that the divine argument has been conveyed to them without any ambiguity, and then in consequence of their rejection of Faith the wrath of Allah is going to crack down on them. Although this situation completely fits the infidels of Makka, and they were the direct addressees of the warning, but in principle this matter is applicable to those people also who like the infidels of Makka, persist in their opposition to Islam. The objective is that Allah’s call with its arguments should be conveyed to all the disbelievers who will be born on this earth till the Day of Resurrection. Moreover, another purpose of these verses seem to be to teach the Muslims that the path of the disbelievers is different from the path of the believers, and there is such a big gulf between the two paths that they cannot compromise on the principle of give and take.

3. Means idols, which were worshipped by the polytheists. These also include all those gods whom they were worshipping, instead of Allah.

In the matter of worship the Prophet has been asked to clarify his stand or his position in other Surahs too, for example in Surah Yunus, it is stated:

“Say: “O you men! If you are in doubt as to my religion (behold!) I worship not that you worship, other than Allah. But I worship Allah, Who takes your souls (at death).” -(Yunus- 1empty0empty4).

4. The polytheists of Makka were admitting Allah as their Creator and they also did not refuse to worship Him, but they were not ready to accept that instead of idols, only Allah should be worshipped. If they worshipped Allah, they did so by joining others as partners with Him. Therefore it was clarified to them that their worshipping was neither the worship of Allah, nor were they truly worshippers of Allah. With the worship of Allah no other worship can be combined. Therefore, if they thought that they were worshipper$ of Allah, they were under a wrong impression, which had no relation with reality.

5. The polytheists wanted that the Prophet should also worship their idols so that some way of making a compromise may be found. In Surah Zumar this demand of theirs is answered in a very firm way:

“Say: Is it someone other than Allah that you order me to worship, O you Ignorant ones?” - - (Az-Zumar - 6empty4)

And here also they have been given a very disappointing reply, in order that they may not nurse any false hopes of compromises in this connection.

There is no repetition in Verses Nos.2and 4There is a difference between the two in as much as in Verse No.2the stand with regard to the present is clarified, and in Verse No.4there is an expression of the stand and declaration of the determination for the future. The meaning is that neither do I worship your gods at present nor may it be expected in the future that I will show any softness or elasticity; I declare my aversion to your gods definitely and finally.

6. That is: Because of your unreasonable persistence you cannot be expected to give up your gods and become the worshippers of Allah.

It does not mean that there was no possibility of any of these infidels embracing Islam in future, because among them were many who subsequently embraced it, but it means that since there is no willingness in them for worshipping his God and they want to persist in worshipping their gods only, he declares his disconnection and aversion till they gives up their infidelity and polytheistic attitude.

7. That is: When in the matter of worship, which is the main foundation of the relationship with God, there is nothing common between you and me, then how can our religion be one and where does the question of compromise and acquiescence arise. If you do not want to accept my call, you may remain on your stand and I on my stand till finally Allah declares his verdict. It is like the situation described in the Surah Yunus:

“And if they charge you with falsehood, say: ‘My work to me, and yours to you. You are free from responsibility for what I do, and I for what you do.” -(Yunus -4empty1).

Prophet Ibrahim had very bluntly declared his unconcern with and disconnection from his community, which the Quran has declared as an excellent example for the people of Faith:

“There is for you an excellent example (to follow) in Ibrahim and those with him, when they said to their people: ‘We are clear of you and of whatever you worship besides Allah; we have rejected you; and there has arisen between us and you, enmity and hatred for ever, -unless you believe in Allah and Him alone.’ -(Al-Mumtahinah-4).

In short this Surah is a declaration of positive unconcern with attitude of the infidels and aversion to their religion, and therefore to take it to mean a direction for tolerance and arguing from it to preach softness for the polytheistic religions is like calling white as black and like trying to prove that the day is night.

These days in the name of religious tolerance, the ideology of unity of religions (all religions are equal in which there is no distinction of truth and falsehood) is being presented in a very attractive way. Its propagators want that Allah may be made to sit in the rank of idols (Allah is free of whatever they join with Him), and they want to prepare a mixture of ‘Unity of God and polytheism. They can indulge in their pastime, but they cannot join Truth with Falsehood, As day and night cannot be brought together, similarly truth and falsehood also cannot be joined together, and such an attempt is futile. And so far as Quran is concerned, this Surah itself is sufficient to reject this theory. Therefore, those who want to prepare a mixture of Islam and kufr should not expect that Quran will support them in their unholy task.