Surah Al-Kafirun

Dissociation from Shirk (polytheism).

If the Surah is read with this background in mind, one finds that it was not revealed to preach religious tolerance as some people of today seem to think, but it was revealed in order to exonerate the Muslims from the disbelievers religion, their rites of worship, their gods and to express their total disgust and unconcern with them and to tell them that Islam and disbelief (Kufr) had nothing in common and there was no possibility of their being combined and mixed into one entity.

Although it was addressed in the beginning to the disbelieving Quraysh in response to their proposals of compromise, it is not confined to them only. Rather, having been made a part of the Qur’an, Allah gave the Muslims the eternal teaching that they should exonerate themselves by word and deed from the creed of disbelief wherever and in whatever form it be, and should declare without any reservation that they cannot make any compromise with the disbelievers in the matter of Faith. As for the esteem in which the Prophet ﷺheld this Surah, it can be judged from the following few hadith:

Abdullah bin Umar (ra) has related that on many occasions he heard the Prophet ﷺrecite Surah 109: al-Kafirun (The Disbelievers) “Qul Ya-ayyuhalkafirun” and Surah 112: al-Ikhlas (The Sincerity) “Qul Huwu-Allahu-ahad” in the two rakahs before the Fajr obligatory Prayer and in the two rakahs after the Maghrib obligatory Prayer. Several traditions on this subject with a little variation in wording have been related by Imam Ahmad, Tirmidhi, Nasai, Ibn Majah, Ibn Hibban, Ibn Marduyah from Ibn Umar.

Khabbab says: “The Prophet ﷺsaid to me: when you lie down in bed to sleep, recite Surah 109: al-Kafirun (The Disbelievers) ‘Qul ya-ayyuhal kafirun’, and this was the Prophet’s ﷺown practice also; when he lay down to sleep, he recited this Surah.” (Bazzar, Tabarani, Ibn Marduyah) According to Ibn Abbas, the Prophet ﷺsaid to the people: “Should I tell you the word which will protect you from polytheism? It is that you should recite Surah (Abu Ya’la, Tabarani) Anas says that the Prophet ﷺsaid to Mu’adh bin Jabal; “Recite Surah 109: alKafirun (The Disbelievers) ‘Qul ya-ayyuhal-kafirun’ at the time you go to bed, for this is immunity from polytheism.” (Baihaqi in Shu’ab al-Iman)