Mohammad Elshinawy – Lessons From Surat Al-Kafirun
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses the importance of the Prophet's words in their court sentence, emphasizing the need for everyone to update their religion and avoid blurring lines. They also address the meaningings of "has" in the Surah and its implications for worship, highlighting the importance of learning together to elevate the discourse and benefit the creation. The speaker warns against using the current language and emphasizes the need for everyone to update their religion.AI: Transcript ©
So Surah Al Kafirun
is the,
Surah that according to one hadith at Shikhal
Bani
authentic,
is equivalent
to 1 fourth of the Quran. The reward
of reciting 1 fourth of the Quran or
in it are the is one of the
4 major themes of the Quran. How we
interpret it,
can go this way or that way but
1 fourth of the Quran. And we said
in our discussion of Surat Al Khlas, that
it is equivalent, that's highly established, to 1
third of the Quran and what that that
may mean.
The reason for the revelation of this surah,
means the disbelievers. Right. The non believers or
the disbelievers.
That they had come to the Prophet
in their final moments. Right? Their desperation. Remember
I said,
seemed to be very closely aligned in their
theme. They're saying wait it out. He has
no kids. Just, you know, hold your breath
since nothing else is working. It'll all be
over soon.
This is another similar sort of,
bright idea.
I say that sarcastically.
That they had They said, let's go to
the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam and
let's try to dissuade him. Tell him, listen.
We'll worship only your God for a year
and you will worship our gods, meaning as
well because they used to worship Allah anyway,
but they would worship others alongside him. And
you would worship our gods along with your
god for a year. So 1 year in,
1 year out.
And so the surah came down says,
Right? Like listen, these believers.
It doesn't work like this. I do have
to make an important disclaimer.
While of course the theme of this surah
is the izzah of the Muslim and the
the izzah that a Muslim should have the
dignity and pride he should have in his
creed. And that's why the surah ends with
You got your religion. You do what you
want with it. You guys can sort of
like
change colors on it, put a flag on
it, put a skirt on. You do what
you want.
You got your religion. That doesn't mean much
to you. So you're willing to bend on
it.
I have a very different deen. Right?
It's actually not mine. It belongs to Allah
and I don't want it any other way.
So that's how it ends. But the way
the surah begins, say
O disbelievers.
We have to say that the Prophet
never addressed disbelievers this way.
Like this was not the norm. Right? Say,
oh disbeliever.
That would not be It's not just about
politically correct. That would not be intelligent. That
would not be kind. Allah
said,
Say kind words to all people. You know,
Ibn Abbas
He said about say kind words to all
people. He said, If Firawn This is not
just a disbeliever.
He's like, you know, super disbeliever. He says,
I'm God. Right? If
were to say to me,
may Allah bless you. I would say to
him,
and you too. Right back at you. May
Allah bless you too. In that context. Right?
So he didn't tell people, oh, disbelievers.
In fact, the Quran also says that all
the prophets, like 50 times what did they
say? 49 times. The Prophets are always addressing
their people in a way that would
close the distance. Right? Say, you owe my
people. You're my people. You're my, you know,
my town. You're my family. We're family. He
was sent among them from their for a
reason. Right.
I'm worried about you.
So it was only mentioned 2 times in
the Quran.
One time is regarding
this is not sort of the context of
dawah. This is regarding the day of judgment.
When the angels will say,
oh, disbelievers,
don't try to apologize today.
You're only getting
what you used to
do. There's no nothing else here. It's the
day you meet Allah's justice.
The other time,
so that one was when it was said
and done. Right? Not dua.
Not a domain for dua being inviting and
all of that. The other time is in
the surah.
What is the context of this surah?
You're asking me to change my religion.
Right? Like I'm being nice, and I'm being
personable, and I'm trying to be kind, and
I'm trying to work you through your prejudices
and all this other stuff.
But you're now asking me
to change my deen.
So that's when you have to sort of
reset and say, hold on. I don't think
you understand.
Right? That's what
means. That's sort of the the the the
ethos of the. I don't think you understand.
My dean is not like that. You don't
get it, do you? My dean doesn't go
through upgrades and like software upgrades. No. No.
No. No.
Your dean might, but I don't have this
blurring of lines.
To mix truth with falsehood
means it's falsehood. Right?
My deen is purely pure.
You know, that is also why the
the discussion of the Abrahamic faiths.
We should also be very careful with that
language.
Right? Like, we we all pretty much believe
in Abraham and hold on. If you mean
we all believe in a person Abraham and
then we disagree on other issues, there might
be some room, right,
for that.
But to blur the lines like nothing else
matters because there happens to be a personality
that we both we all trace our traditions
true and and that becomes what's most important,
sort of the social connection? Absolutely not. We
don't nationalize our religion. This is Allah.
This is not sort of what me and
you meet on the middle ground with in
the negotiation.
That's what Surat Kahfirun is all about.
What's gonna be a a sweet spot for
me and you on the social level?
That's when you say, no. No. Hold on.
Full stop.
That is the idea. Is that clear? It's
clear? Okay.
You know one of the names also
of
Surat Al Kafirun is
Al Mukashkisha.
It's a little bit of a mouthful.
Scholars used to call this surah, Surah Al
Mukashkisha.
Arabs rise. What is al makashah?
Makashah is a broom. Okay?
The broom
is something you
you
like you you sweep things with. You swipe
and then swipe again and swipe again and
swipe again and That's what the surah also
came to do. It came to cleanse cleanse
the soul. Right? To sweep out of the
soul that temptation to sort of like bend
for those asking you to compromise in your
religion.
There's no change. There will be no change.
Of course in fiqh, fiqh was designed, right,
to vary. It has built in flexibility.
Designed to be flexible for times and places.
Right? But when it comes to this
one god,
none. Right? And so the temptation to sort
of blur that line
is what is
all about. And that's why he used to
call it a
Keep sweeping out the dust that creeps into
the house. Right? Keep getting it out. Keep
getting it out. Keep getting it out. And
subhanallah, think of how often the prophet alayhi
sallahu alaihi wa sallam used to sweep.
We said this surah and
used to be read
in And the So the beginning of the
day. And then
the, the 2 rakas after Maghrib, the end
of the day. And then he used to
recite it in his witsir. So the end
of his night as well. Right? Round the
clock he's
he's sweeping, alaihis salatu as salam as Allah
taught him.
Okay.
Let us
try to work through some of the wordings
of this, though there's a lot of linguistics
in the Surah, and so it's a little
bit challenging. I'll have to admit.
Say in the right context, O you who
have disbelieved. O disbelievers.
I don't
worship what you worship.
And there is a difference between,
and
The means, I will not worship what you
worship. But
is
wider.
It's more comprehensive. So it means,
I
didn't and won't. I have not and will
not worship what you worship. This clear?
So
I don't worship
what you worship.
Past, present, future. That's what he means by
as opposed to
Nor
are you worshiping
who I worship.
The other interpretation, they're both correct. Inshallah,
nor are you worshiping,
I said what? Did I say what I
worship? I said what. Right? So the ma
here is the controversy.
You don't worship what I worship
or you don't worship in the way that
I worship?
In other words, what?
With this offer you're bringing me of, like,
the midway solution,
you're not realizing
that
that's not worshiping Allah.
Right?
Like, it's it's not that I worship Allah.
I recognize that you also worship Allah, but
worship in Islam is to worship only Allah.
That's the that's what makes Islam Islam. It's
that I refuse, by definition, anything else. You
get it? And so
we're speaking past each other is almost what
the verse is saying.
You need to understand
that you're saying the word worship, but you're
not worshiping what I'm worshiping.
Right? So long as you're worshiping equals with
him. Or you're not understanding what worship is.
Yeah. You you have some ritual. You have
some superstition.
You have a little bit of, like,
spirituality going. You got some mysticism there. But
this no. This is not worship.
Worship is only worship when it's pure. That's
what he's trying to tell them. Right? Not
staghfirullah. Not trying to tell them. But this
is the objective of this language according to
the Mufasirih.
Then the next verse says,
Got that number 4 now.
Nor am I a worshiper.
So I don't worship what you worship. That
was number 2.
Not abud. Abud is an act. I don't
worship.
Nor am I a worshiper. This is called
Ismufail
is like,
has a different implication. So if I played,
soccer once in my life, I'm not a
soccer player.
Right. Right. Soccer player is because I've done
this for a significant portion of my life.
Yes. That's the idea. So
nor am I a worshiper
of
what you worship.
Meaning, like have you seen me ever do
this? Even before Islam, I wouldn't do this.
Right? Am I known to be a mushrik?
Right? I'm not a worshipper. I I've never
been this person.
The number 5 is, and you
and you,
have never worshiped what I worship.
There's a nuance here. If If I've lost
you, it's okay. Just the general also, theme
is is most important. It's paramount.
But the 3rd verse
and the 5th verse are actually the same
exact verse.
Right?
Whoever memorized Surat al Kefirun knows they get
caught up in this. Like wait a minute.
Wait. Is it Is this the first one
or the second one when you're first learning
it?
But the scholars differed
on Are these for the Are these for
emphasis? And it could be for emphasis.
You know,
there there is nothing redundant
about the Quran repeating itself. The Quran does
repeat itself in certain ways at certain times.
And there is great wisdom in that.
You know, I I was telling people,
or or Allah guided me once to say
to someone,
when they say, why does the Quran repeat
itself?
I said
I don't know if this is sort of
like lousy or not but
because I need to tell you a 1000
times to clean your room.
And we can all relate to that with
kids. Like, we tell the kids a 1000
times. But it's not just kids.
Right?
It's not just kids.
We have a room up here, and we
have a room up here that we're always
getting cluttered.
So the crowdedness of life
requires this.
So Allah knows
our nature, and so even the repetition and
even the proportions of how much he repeats
where, is perfectly designed to bring us to
the shores of safety. Yes. So some scholars
said,
and you don't worship what I worship,
or you don't worship at all, would depending
on what the meaning is. That being repeated
in the 3rd verse and the 5th verse,
is that emphasis? Like repetition for emphasis? That
is
one interpretation.
The other interpretation is that
the first one,
you don't worship
meaning through this offer. The first one is
about this offer. That's what's like,
implied, intended, this offer of yours, the negotiation
you're putting on the table, the supposed truce,
that doesn't count. That's what the first one
means. You're not worshiping what I worship according
to this agreement.
You're telling me 1 year for your god,
1 year for mine. No. Neither of them
is my god pleased with. There's no selectivity
here. So that's the meaning of the first
one. You're not worshiping what I worship, meaning
like this, in disagreement.
Whereas the second one means
you have never worshiped Allah purely.
Final warning.
Why? Because the verse before it I know
I'm using a lot of numbers here, but
verse 4 is
I've never been a worshiper of this stuff.
And by the way, you've never worshiped Allah.
That's the meaning here because of sort of
the arrangement.
Some scholars said, the first one was intended
to the agreement
the second was intended to tell them your
track record by the way. You've never done
this right.
For you is your religion,
and for me is
this religion.
There's a few things also in this last
verse that are very interesting that the scholars
do point out. The first of them, it
says, for
all of you is deenukum,
your deen.
It doesn't say lakum for you all is
adianukum,
your religions.
But the surah begins
with are many. There's the Christian kafirun. There's
the Jewish kafirun. There's the pagan kafirun. They're
all kafirun. Right? So why did it say
for you all is your religion?
Why is it reducing them all to one
religion?
Because they kinda are.
Is basically the same thing.
Is all the same thing.
I'm restraining myself.
Well, let me think of a better example.
So when the prophet
said that
2 people from different religions
don't inherit from one another. This is the
safe example. Okay? The more politically correct example.
Imam al Shafi'i Rahim Allah. Just add as
an example. He would say that if sort
of a a Jewish family, one of them
became Christian, he can still inherit from his
Jewish relative that passed. Right? Because they're all
basically one religion.
What the prophet, alayhi, sallam, must have meant
is that the kafir and the Muslim, the
Muslim and the kafir, there's a boundary there
when it comes to the estate or the
inheritance.
Right?
They're all one religion.
But in the context of this surah, you
have your religion once again means go ahead
and do what you want with it. Feel
free. It's all the same.
Change it as you like. You've changed it
to begin with. It's not a religion. Right?
It's not a deen, should I say.
Because also a deen is a system.
A system is expected to be something that
lasts. Test of time, test of criticism.
You know,
Surat Yusuf, He was he's Allah says and
he would not have been able to get
his brother to rescue his brother from the
others.
He would not was not going to be
able to apprehend his brother
in the deen of the king. The deen
means what? In the law. The local law
of Egypt at the time. So the deen
was used as a legal system.
Likewise, deen in the widest sense is a
religious system.
But in Islam, it's a religious system meaning,
beliefs
about the super the the the metaphysical, the
khaib. It also involves,
you know, our ethics and our dealings.
It has to do with finance. It has
to it gives us everything. In other words,
I already have a whole package and I
have a real dean. You guys all have
a dean. Feel free to play with it.
I'm not interested in this game. That is,
the meaning of this language.
And also it it began with
the kafirun
and their deen. Right? And their offer.
And it ends with our deen.
As if to say, you guys keep
trying to basically run the clock.
I have a deen.
That's the one that's going to remain at
the end. It has the final word. It
has the final say. It doesn't say for
me as my deen and for you as
your deen. You guys have your deen and
you have your offer and you guys enjoy
it for for the time being
and mine will not get abtar.
Mine will not get cut off.
Mine remains unchanging. Mine remains perpetual.
And some scholars also said, in addition to
no flexibility in creed,
they said that,
the wisdom in also being called a deen,
it didn't say my our deen, the deen
of the Muslims.
It was just said my deen, the deen
of the prophet, alayhis salatu wa sallam,
so as not to provoke them.
Because they actually don't know how many people
are becoming Muslim.
They're starting to feel the pressure and saying,
maybe we should compromise. Maybe we should negotiate.
Because they already feel it slipping.
Right?
And so the prophet
was guided even in the negotiation to not
flex his numbers early, to not show his
cards early.
You all have your your thing going for
you. I have a deen on the table.
It's a real deen. It's an unchanging deen,
and it's my deen for now. Right? Perhaps
that was of the wisdom also of the,
the non congruence or the difference in the
ending between and
not
our din.
Forgive me if there's a lot of bit
a lot of technicality, linguistic technicality, but we're
we're we're learning together, elevating the discourse together.
Inshallah, we ask Allah to benefit us and
to increase in strength and stability and to
make us of those proud of our deen
that he get granted us,
unwavering in our creed,
and of benefit to ourselves and the creation
through that.
And once again, may he not deprive us
of drinking from the sunnah of his prophet,
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, in this dunya and
from his kawthar and the akhira.
Ameen, Ameen, Ameen.
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