Al-Kaafiroon

Soorah 109:1-6

Name and Background

Teachings and Commentary

Ayub A. Hamid

 

Name and Background

The name “Al-Kaafiroon” (the disbelievers) has been taken from the first verse and is not the topic of this small Soorah.

The Soorah teaches how the Prophet ŝall Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam and the Muslims should let the disbelievers clearly and categorically know that there can be no compromise or reconciliation between Islam and disbelief when it comes to the exclusive submission, worship and slavery to Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta’aala. They are two different paradigms that cannot be patched together and that lead to totally different paths and destinations.

When the Prophet ŝall Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam had started giving the message of Islam to Makkans, they strongly opposed him thinking that their strong reaction would stop him from his mission. When it did not work, they became violent and they tried to stop his mission through aggression and through false propaganda against him. When his mission kept growing despite their violence and false propaganda, they increased the intensity of their brutality and persecution of the believers. When their most vicious efforts, short of killing the Prophet himself, failed to stop him from his mission and failed to stem the growth of his followers, they started offering him compromises in different forms.  Some of the offers they made were the following:

According to ‘Abdullaah Ibn ‘Abbaas (as reported by Ibn Jareer, Ibn abee Ĥaatim and Ŧabaraani), the Quraish offered to give him enough wealth to make him the richest man in the city, marry him to any woman he wanted, and accept him as their leader only if he stopped speaking against their gods. When he rejected these offers, they suggested that he join them so that all Makkans would alternate worship of their idols for one year and worship of Allaah as the Prophet ŝall Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam was inviting them to do the next year. This was their compromise-solution to establish unity and respect for everyone’s religion. 

Another attempt was made by Waleed ibn Mugheerah, ‘Aaŝ ibn Waail, Aswad ibn Al-Muŧŧalib and Umayyah ibn Khalaf, as reported by Ibn Jareer, Ibn abee Ĥaatim and Ibn Hishaam. They proposed that the Prophet ŝall Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam join the Makkan leadership team so that he could be involved and consulted on all important affairs and so that they could jointly bring the whole Makkan community together to worship all gods, including Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta’aala the way suggested by the Prophet ŝall Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, until gradually the best ideas and practices naturally emerge and were adopted.

There are other reports of suggestion from the Makkans along the same lines as noted above indicating that there were multiple attempts made like these. This Soorah is the response to all those proposals. As you can see, the subject matter of this Soorah is not of compromise, reconciliation and tolerance in the sense that some people interpret it nowadays. It is a categorical announcement of there being no possibility of compromise with obstinate opponents who do not want to listen to the Prophet ŝall Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam and a determined ongoing struggle until Islam is established as it deserves to be established. It is an open defiance of and challenge to the established order in the society at the height of the clash between the two paradigms of life, without any willingness to compromise on the matters of principle.

This dedication to the exclusive servitude to Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta’aala without any compromise and the instruction to convey it unequivocally to the disbelievers was not only for the Prophet ŝall Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, but also for the Muslims of all times.

Looking at the order of the Soorahs, you can see that it is preceded by the prediction of the success of the prophetic mission in Soorah Al-Kowthar. After predicting the outcome, this Soorah challenges the diehard adversaries that because the mission of the Prophet ŝall Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam will go ahead until the goals are achieved, they can do what they want. Then, the next Soorah, An-Naŝr, describes the eventual success of the mission and conquer of Makkah. 

Teachings

In the name of Allaah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

1 Say: O disbelievers! 2 I shall not worship [1] what you worship. 3 And you are not true worshippers of Whom I worship. 4 Since I never have been and I am never going to worship what you have been worshipping 5 and since you are not willing to worship exclusively Whom I worship, there can be no compromise between us. 6 You keep your religion to yourselves, I shall continue practising my way of life.

Commentary

This is the only place in the Qur-aan where the Prophet ŝall Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam has been told to address the disbelievers as “O disbelievers!” This is to emphasize their obduracy in response to the Prophet’s untiring work to present Islam to them. As they are being notified of the uncompromising stance of Muslims in the matters of faith, the address starts by matter-of-factly stating their insistence on disbelief as the basic cause of this situation.  Also, note that they have not been addressed as “O idolaters, or O Polytheists or O Mushriks” because such disbelievers are only a subset of all the disbelievers. Allaah wants Muslims to have this sort of uncompromising attitude towards all disbelievers to whom Islam has been presented and explained but who continue to reject it insolently.  

Some people translate the first verse in the present tense: “I do not worship”, but other scholars disagree with this because the use of the word Laa instead of Maa before ‘abudu makes it specific for future tense as per linguistic rules. In addition, Makkans already knew that the Prophet ŝall Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam did not worship their idols, so there was no benefit in stating the obvious. What needed to be emphasized was a clear statement of his intentions of never making any compromise in this respect.

The use of “what” instead of “who” as a qualifier for “you worship” in the second verse has very profound implications. “Who” would refer to an entity or a group of entities worshipped by the disbelievers, while “what” refers to the nature and concepts of the entity or entities being worshipped by disbelievers. Denying worshipping of “who disbelievers worship” would be incorrect because Arabs did worship Allaah in addition to their idols. But the concepts and beliefs about Allaah of even those disbelievers who claim to worship One God, the Creator, are faulty and unacceptable. So even when the entity is the same, the concepts are misguided. In those situations, “what” a Muslim worships is absolutely not “what” the disbelievers worship, though the entity may be the same. Thus, this style negates all misguided views about worshipping One God, the Creator, such as worshipping:

·         Allaah along with many others deities or idols;

·         Allaah who begets daughters;

·         The God Who is one of the three;

·         The God Who has a son whom he crucifies to be able to forgive others;

·         The God Who is racist Who is not the Lord of the Universe but of a certain tribe;

·         The God Who needs rest on the 7^th day;

·         The God Who wrestles with Jacob;

·         The God Who needs to take human shape or incarnate Himself in human bodies; etc.

Use of “what” also excludes such gods as one’s own opinion, wisdom, reasoning, aspirations and desires which many people worship by giving these things the same or more importance than to the commands of Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta’aala.

• In the same way, in the third verse, the use of “what” refers to the correct concepts about Allaah, the One and only God and Creator, which refers to beliefs about Allaah such as, He:

• Is the sole Creator and the Lord of the universe and Who is managing the affairs of the universe on an ongoing basis;Is infinite in form, shape and all of His attributes;

• Has nothing like Him, opposite to Him, similar to Him, equal to Him or greater than Him;
• Has ultimate and absolute power, knowledge, wisdom and authority;
• Has no weakness, shortcoming, imperfection or bias;
• Has no wives, daughters, sons, partners or helpers;
• Is just and fair to everyone, treating them all equally and consistently on the basis of the same principles without playing any favourites;
• Commands and has the legitimate rights to promulgate laws and give commands as the Creator and Master of all;
• Dislikes and disapproves of anything which is not done purely for His pleasure but is shared by other motives and considerations; etc.

In verse 4, the word ‘Aabid has been used for the Prophet ŝall Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam as an attribute that covers the past as well as the future tense while the action of the disbelievers is in the past tense. Thus, we have tried to convey this difference in describing the teachings of this verse.

We have also tried to convey the message of the last verse more openly in rendering the teachings of verses 4, 5 and 6 into English. After the revelation of this Soorah, that message was repeated in many revelations later on, such as the two examples given below:

If they reject you, tell them, “My actions are for me and yours for you. You are disassociated from what I do, and I am disassociated from what you do.” (Younus 10:41)

Say: “O my People, you work according to your position, I am continuing with my mission. Soon you will find out who gets a humiliating punishment and who receives an enduring punishment.” (Az-Zumur 39:39-40)

Although the first addressee of this Soorah was the Prophet ŝall Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, himself, it is equally applicable to all Muslims who are approached for or expected to make compromises in matters of faith and principles.  It is in fact the same attitude that has always been expected of the believers of all ages. The Qur-aan quotes the example from Prophet Ibraaheem ‘alayhissalaam and his followers as follows:

Indeed there is a beautiful model for you in Ibraaheem and those with him, when they said to their people: “We are totally disassociated from you and whatever you worship besides Allaah. We reject your views and there has appeared enmity and hatred between us forever until you believe in Allaah alone. (Al-Mumtaĥinah 60:4)

To help people inculcate this message in their minds, he taught his companions to recite this Soorah when retiring for sleep because it helps in “disassociation from Shirk”. There have been multiple Aĥaadeeth reported in this respect by Musnad Aĥmad, Aboo Dawood, Tirrmidzi, Nasaai, Ibn Abee Shaybah, Ĥaakim, Ibn Marduyah and Baihaqi.