(قُلْ يأَيُّهَا الْكَـفِرُونَ)
(1. Say: "O disbelievers!'')
(لاَ أَعْبُدُ مَا تَعْبُدُونَ)
(2. "I worship not that which you worship.'')
(وَلاَ أَنتُمْ عَـبِدُونَ مَآ أَعْبُدُ)
(3. "Nor will you worship whom I worship.'')
(وَلا أَنَآ عَابِدٌ مَّا عَبَدتُّمْ)
(4. "And I shall not worship that which you are
worshipping.'')
(وَلاَ أَنتُمْ عَـبِدُونَ مَآ أَعْبُدُ)
(5. "Nor will you worship that which I worship.'')
(لَكُمْ دِينُكُمْ وَلِىَ دِينِ)
(6. "To you be your religion, and to me my
religion.'')
The Declaration of Innocence from Shirk
This Surah is the Surah of disavowal from the deeds of
the idolators. It commands a complete disavowal of that. Allah's statement,
﴿قُلْ يأَيُّهَا الْكَـفِرُونَ
﴾
(Say: "O disbelievers!'') includes every disbeliever
on the face of the earth, however, this statement is particularly directed
towards the disbelievers of the Quraysh. It has been said that in their
ignorance they invited the Messenger of Allah to worship their idols for a year
and they would (in turn) worship his God for a year. Therefore, Allah revealed
this Surah and in it
He commanded His Messenger to disavow himself from their
religion completely
Allah said,
﴿لاَ أَعْبُدُ مَا تَعْبُدُونَ
﴾
(I worship not that which you worship.) meaning, statues
and rival gods.
﴿وَلاَ أَنتُمْ عَـبِدُونَ مَآ
أَعْبُدُ ﴾
(Nor will you worship whom I worship.) and He is Allah
Alone, Who has no partner. So the word Ma (what) here means Man (who). Then
Allah says,
﴿وَلاَ أَنَآ عَابِدٌ مَّا عَبَدتُّمْ
وَلاَ أَنتُمْ عَـبِدُونَ مَآ أَعْبُدُ ﴾
(And I shall not worship that which you are worshipping.
Nor will you worship whom I worship.) meaning, `I do not worship according to
your worship, which means that I do not go along with it or follow it. I only
worship Allah in the manner in which He loves and is pleased with.' Thus, Allah
says,
﴿وَلاَ أَنتُمْ عَـبِدُونَ مَآ
أَعْبُدُ ﴾
(Nor will you worship whom I worship.) meaning, `you do
not follow the commands of Allah and His Legislation in His worship. Rather,
you have invented something out of the promptings of your own souls.' This is
as Allah says,
﴿إِن يَتَّبِعُونَ إِلاَّ الظَّنَّ
وَمَا تَهْوَى الاٌّنفُسُ وَلَقَدْ جَآءَهُم مِّن رَّبِّهِمُ الْهُدَى﴾
(They follow but a guess and that which they themselves
desire, whereas there has surely come to them the guidance from their Lord!)
(53:23) Therefore, the disavowal is from all of what they are involved. For
certainly the worshipper must have a god whom he worships and set acts of
worship that he follows to get to him. So the Messenger and his followers
worship Allah according to what He has legislated. This is why the statement of
Islam is "There is no God worthy of being worshipped except Allah, and
Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.'' This means that there is no (true) object
of worship except Allah and there is no path to Him (i.e., way of worshipping
Him) other than that which the Messenger came with. The idolators worship other
than Allah, with acts of worship that Allah has not allowed. This is why the
Messenger said to them,
﴿لَكُمْ دِينُكُمْ وَلِىَ دِينِ
﴾
(To you be your religion, and to me my religion.) This is
similar to Allah's statement,
﴿وَإِن كَذَّبُوكَ فَقُل لِّى
عَمَلِى وَلَكُمْ عَمَلُكُمْ أَنتُمْ بَرِيئُونَ مِمَّآ أَعْمَلُ وَأَنَاْ بَرِىءٌ
مِّمَّا تَعْمَلُونَ ﴾
(And if they belie you, say: "For me are my deeds
and for you are your deeds! You are innocent of what I do, and I am innocent of
what you do!'') (10:41) and He said,
﴿لَنَآ أَعْمَـلُنَا وَلَكُمْ
أَعْمَـلُكُمْ﴾
(To us our deeds, and to you your deeds.) (28:55)
Al-Bukhari said, "It has been said,
﴿لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ﴾
(To you be your religion.) means disbelief.
﴿وَلِىَ دِينِ﴾
(and to me my religion.) means, Islam. This is the end of
the Tafsir of Surat Qul ya Ayyuhal-Kafirun.