Al-Kafirun · Makki · ayah 5 of 6

Al-Kafirun 109:5

وَلَآ أَنتُمْ عَـٰبِدُونَ مَآ أَعْبُدُ

“Nor will you be worshippers of what I worship.”

Saheeh International

Essence

A heart can say God's name and still bow to other things, and this ayah says that worship divided is not really His.

A reflection

But they believed in God too

The objection, and it is a fair one: the Makkans were not atheists. Asked who created the heavens and the earth, they said 'Allah' (31:25). Many people today say the same: 'I believe in God, just in my own way.' So why deny that they worship what he worships?

Look at the form. For himself the Prophet ﷺ uses a verb and then a noun. For them the ayah uses only the noun, ʿābidūna, worshippers, both times. One classical answer explains why. They did sometimes worship Allah; the ayah does not deny the act. It denies them the description. They worshipped Him alongside others, saying the idols would bring them nearer to Him (39:3). Worship shared out is not worship of Him.

The same scholar draws a searching conclusion. No one is truly called a worshipper of Allah, His servant standing firm, except one who has turned to Him wholly. Such a person looks to no one else beside Him.

Another commentary adds a second answer. They worshipped something they had imagined and called God. The One the Prophet ﷺ worshipped was beyond what they pictured, known by the qualities that make Him worthy of worship.

Think of a marriage that is faithful most of the week. No one would call that faithfulness. The word does not stretch to cover the exceptions; the exceptions cancel the word.

What remains open is how Allah judges any individual today; that belongs to Him. The ayah speaks of a way of worship, not of our right to sort people. And it speaks to the believer too. The question it asks is not only 'do you believe in God?' but 'is He the only One you bow to?'

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.