Surah Al-Kafirun

[NotSure]

(The Rashad Khalifa translation):

[109:0] In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

[109:1] Say, "O you disbelievers.

[109:2] "I do not worship what you worship.

[109:3] "Nor do you worship what I worship.

[109:4] "Nor will I ever worship what you worship.

[109:5] "Nor will you ever worship what I worship.

[109:6] "To you is your religion, and to me is my religion."

What I am wondering is this: what is God trying to teach us with this Surah? Right now I'm reading a work of tafsir and what it says about this Surah is very opposed to what I see when I read the Surah. The message of the Surah, according to the tafsir is that our path as muslims and their path as nonbelievers are totally irreconcilable and we must remain aloof and hostile to them and their way of life. This is not what I thought the Surah was trying to tell me. Does anyone have an alternate explanation?

[Man of Faith]

Peace,

The sura indicates that these phrases are meant to be used against those who do not follow God's religion. Qul = say, probably God who told Muhammad originally to say this, but today it is probably something to say for whoever finds these phrases useful. Maybe if you are prosecuted and they want to force you to accept their religion you can tell this series of verses. Or they mock you or try to entice you to change.

It does not make sense to recite the sura as a prayer since it would seem strange in front of the Lord.

Focus on verses in Quran which start: say "oh Lord" or similarly, these are the prayer verses, or the first sura of the Quran. I stopped reciting ayat which make no sense. It is ignorant people who keep reciting them as prayers in my opinion.

And no, the surah does not indicate that you should be hostile towards disbelievers. Only an ignorant person would extract that meaning from it.

God bless you

[wrkmmn]

peace:

to me, this is to be said to those who are putting pressure on us so that we go back to our old religion, or want us to change into their religion, and that we clearly know that they are not worshipers of the one and only God and believe in all His prophets and make no difference between any of them. And, in a way, yes, we are telling them "that our path as muslims and their path as nonbelievers are totally irreconcilable", for we are following the path that leads to God, and they are following the path that leads to hell. However, this does not mean that we have to be hostile towards them, because maybe many of them will become believers in the future and will love god maybe even more than us (only God knows). [109:5] "Nor will you ever worship what I worship. as log as they stay in the path they are in, this is true. Also, A muslim must not be hostile towards any creature of God, no mater if the creature in question is an unbeliever. Keep in mind that I am talking about people of other religions which are not being hostile towards us. This does not mean that we can befriend them, or ally with them, for this is forbidden to the believers. For the ones oppressing us and being hostile towards us there are other verses of how to deal with them. 

may God bless us with wisdom.   

[hawk99]

Peace NotSure,

The wonderful sura no. 109.  It can be understood as the culmination of growth by
the believer when the God submitter recognizes that there is no longer any point in
debating the existence or authority of God.  Some of us can remember when we
argued about God's attributes, or the veracity of the Quran, or will there
be a judgement day, sura 109 reveals that we have our way and the non-believers have
their way.  There is no need to be hostile because God simply has not guided them to
this.  There is no compulsion in religion.  This is not an aloofness but a concession.
Maybe one day if they are fortunate God will guide those who previously were not
on the path to the path.  God willing

God Bless

   

[mohf]

The translation is not accurate. The word '3bud', 'ta3budun' 'na3buduh' etc. have zero relation to worshipping / prayering.

'3bud' means to obey, to follow, serve, etc. All believers 'ya3budun' God, while non-believers 'ya3budun' other than God.

Quran 2:21:

O you mankind! Serve [3budu] your Lord Who created you and those before you that you may become muttaqeen (see 2:3-4 for definition)

[hawk99]

The translation is not accurate. The word '3bud', 'ta3budun' 'na3buduh' etc. have zero relation to worshipping.

'3bud' means to obey, to follow, serve, etc. All believers 'ya3budun' God, while non-believers 'ya3budun' other than God.

Quran 2:21:

O you mankind! Serve [3budu] your Lord Who created you and those before you that you may become muttaqeen (see 2:3-4 for definition)

Peace mohf, 

Why is there a "3" in your words ?

[mohf]

Peace mohf, 

Why is there a "3" in your words ?

The number is often used as an equivalent for the arabic letter 'ain' or: ع.

Edit: www.quran.com transliteration seems to use 'AA' as an equivalent for this arabic letter. As in: 'AAbud' 'naAAbudu' 'taAAbudun' etc.

[hawk99]

Peace mohf,

Thanks, but please one language at a time.

   

[Jafar]

On contrary, I understand the verse to be a message of "TOLERANCE".

First and foremost, there are no such thing as "GOD'S RELIGION".
GOD DOESN'T HAVE ANY RELIGION.

If God's religion is Islam (a.k.a Sunniism) , then God need to proclaim shahada, believe in the Quran, believe in the Hadith, perform the rituals running around the black cube etc.. Otherwise God will be declared as an INFIDEL.
Which is of course RIDICULOUS.

Now here's my understanding of "AL-KAFIRUN" (The People who hides/covers the truth")

Say, "O you people who covers (the truth), I do not SERVE what you SERVE!"
Or do you serve what I serve
Or will I ever serve what you serve
Or will you ever serve what I serve
To you your own attitude/judgement/opinion (arabic:dien) and to me mine.

Those who conceal / hides the truth, usually SERVE THEIR OWN EGO.
This attitude is apparent whenever you do a discussion with the RELIGIOUS people (a.k.a Sectarian people).

Upon faced with the situation of 'his/her logical weakness getting exposed or his/her opinion proven to be weak / wrong', they will resort to anger and violence because HIS/HER EGO is at stake.

And Muhammad definitely faced those 'religious people who always tries to cover his/her own lies' during his lifetime.
Perhaps they even tried to kill him on many occasions..

To them, the recommended attitude is clear: "To you your own attitude/judgement/opinion (arabic:dien) and to me mine"

This topic discussed in the verse above is closely related to 2:256, which basically state:

"There are no compulsion / enforcement in attitude/judgement/opinion (arabic: Dien), as Truth stands out clear from BS".

Salam / Peace

[Man of Faith]

Peace,

Ironically, those who call themselves Muslims today are kafirs by definition, covering the Truth knowingly or unknowingly. History repeats itself it seems.

God bless you