Tafseer of The Disbelievers · Al-Kaafiroon · 109:2
I do not worship what you worship.
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.
Allah the Exalted here says to His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ — and the polytheists (mushrikīn) from his people had, as has been transmitted, proposed to him that they would worship Allah for one year, on condition that the Prophet of Allah ﷺ would worship their gods for one year — and Allah revealed in response to this what they were to hear concerning this matter: قُلْ — "Say," O Muḥammad, to these polytheists (mushrikīn) who asked you to worship their gods for one year, on condition that they would worship your God for one year — يَا أَيُّهَا الْكَافِرُونَ — "O disbelievers (kāfirs) in Allah" — لا أَعْبُدُ مَا تَعْبُدُونَ — "I do not worship what you worship" — namely: the gods and the idols, now at this present moment — وَلا أَنْتُمْ عَابِدُونَ مَا أَعْبُدُ — "and you are not worshippers of what I worship," now at this present moment.
وَلا أَنَا عَابِدٌ — "And I will not be a worshipper," in the future,
مَا عَبَدْتُمْ — "of what you have worshipped in the past" — وَلا أَنْتُمْ عَابِدُونَ — "and you will never be worshippers," in the future,
مَا أَعْبُدُ — "of what I worship," now and in the future. This is said thus because the address of Allah was directed to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ concerning certain specifically named persons among the polytheists (mushrikīn), of whom Allah knew that they would never believe, and that this had already been fixed in His prior knowledge. He therefore commanded His Prophet ﷺ to deprive them of every hope of that upon which they were counting and with which they had flattered themselves — namely that this would never come to pass, neither from him nor from them, at any time. And Allah deprived the Prophet of Allah ﷺ of every hope that they would ever believe or ever attain success. And so it was: they attained no success and achieved no triumph — until some of them were killed by the sword on the day of Badr, and others perished before that as disbelievers (kāfir).
In accordance with what we have said concerning this, the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) also spoke, and to this effect the reports (āthār) have also come.
* Account of who said this:
Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Ḥarashī related to me, saying: Abū Khalaf related to us, saying: 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 money that he would become the richest man of Mecca, and to marry him to whatever women he wished, and to follow behind him — and they said to him: "This is ready for you with us, O Muḥammad, if you cease reviling our gods and do not mention them with evil. And if you do not do that, we propose to you one thing, in which both you and we have benefit." He said: "What is it?" They said: "You worship our gods for one year — al-Lāt and al-ʿUzzā — and we worship your God for one 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 surah — and Allah revealed: قُلْ أَفَغَيْرَ اللَّهِ تَأْمُرُونِّي أَعْبُدُ أَيُّهَا الْجَاهِلُونَ … up to His word: فَاعْبُدْ وَكُنْ مِنَ الشَّاكِرِينَ.
Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, saying: Saʿīd ibn Mīnā, the freedman of al-Bakhtarī, related to me — saying: Al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīra, al-ʿĀṣ ibn Wāʾil, al-Aswad ibn al-Muṭṭalib, and Umayya ibn Khalaf met the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said: "O Muḥammad, come, let us worship what you worship, and you worship what we worship, and you share with us in all our affairs. For if that with which you have come is better than what we have, then we have shared in it with you and taken our portion of it; and if that which we have is better than what you have, then you have shared with us in our affair and have taken your portion of it." Then Allah revealed: قُلْ يَا أَيُّهَا الْكَافِرُونَ — until the surah came to its end.
