Tafseer of The Disbelievers · Al-Kaafiroon · 109:1
Say, "O disbelievers,
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of the word of Allah, exalted be His praise and hallowed be His names: قُلْ يَا أَيُّهَا الْكَافِرُونَ (1)
Allah, exalted be His mention, says to His Prophet Muhammad ﷺ — and the polytheists (mushrikīn) of his people had offered him, as is related, that they would worship Allah for a year on condition that the Prophet of Allah ﷺ would worship their gods for a year — and Allah revealed the wording with which he was to answer them: قُلْ — "Say," O Muhammad, to these polytheists who have asked you to worship their gods for a year while they worship your God for a year — يَا أَيُّهَا الْكَافِرُونَ — "O you who disbelieve (kāfir) in Allah" — لَا أَعْبُدُ مَا تَعْبُدُونَ — "I do not worship what you worship" of gods and idols, now at this moment — وَلَا أَنتُمْ عَابِدُونَ مَا أَعْبُدُ — "nor do you, now at this moment, worship what I worship."
وَلَا أَنَا عَابِدٌ — "and I shall never in the future worship"
مَا عَبَدتُّمْ — "what you have worshipped in the past" — وَلَا أَنتُمْ عَابِدُونَ — "nor will you ever in the future worship" — مَا أَعْبُدُ — "what I now worship and shall worship in the future."
This is formulated thus because the address of Allah to His Messenger Muhammad ﷺ was directed to certain personally specified polytheists whom Allah knew would never believe — and that had already been established in His prior knowledge. Therefore He commanded His Prophet ﷺ to make them despair of what they had hoped to attain and upon which they had prided themselves, and to make clear that this would never come from him nor from them, at any time whatsoever. And Allah made the Prophet of Allah ﷺ despair of the desire for their belief and of the hope that they would ever come to maturity. And so it came to pass: they did not come to maturity and attained nothing, until some of them were killed by the sword on the Day of Badr, and others died as disbelievers (kāfir) before that day.
In accordance with what we have said spoke the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl), and so run the transmitted reports.
* Mention of those who said this:
Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Ḥarashī related to me; he said: Abū Khalaf related to us; he said: Dāwūd related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: that Quraysh promised the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to give him so much wealth that he would be the richest man of Mecca, and to marry him to whatever women he wished, and to follow in his footsteps. They said to him: "We guarantee this to you, O Muhammad, if only you cease insulting our gods and no longer speak ill of them. But if you do not wish that, then we offer you a single matter, which is for you and from which we too gain benefit." He said: "What is that?" They said: "You worship our gods for a year — al-Lāt and al-ʿUzzā — and we worship your God for a year." He said: "Let me wait for what comes to me from my Lord." Then the revelation descended from the Preserved Tablet: قُلْ يَا أَيُّهَا الْكَافِرُونَ — the entire sūra — and Allah revealed: قُلْ أَفَغَيْرَ اللَّهِ تَأْمُرُونِّي أَعْبُدُ أَيُّهَا الْجَاهِلُونَ ... up to His word: فَاعْبُدْ وَكُن مِّنَ الشَّاكِرِينَ .
Yaʿqūb related to me; he said: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Muhammad ibn Isḥāq; he said: Saʿīd ibn Mīnā, the freedman of al-Bakhtarī, related to me; he said: al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīra and al-ʿĀṣ ibn Wāʾil and al-Aswad ibn al-Muṭṭalib and Umayya ibn Khalaf came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said: "O Muhammad, come, let us worship what you worship, and you worship what we worship, and we will include you in our affair in its entirety. If that which you have brought is better than what we have in hand, then we have shared in it with you and taken our portion of it; and if that which we have in hand is better than what you have in hand, then you have shared with us in our affair and taken your portion of it." Then Allah revealed: قُلْ يَا أَيُّهَا الْكَافِرُونَ to the end of the sūra.
