Surah Kawthar Ayat 3 (108:3 Quran) With Tafsir

Ala-Maududi

(108:3) Verily your enemy^[3] alone has been cut off from the roots.^[4]

3. The word shani as used, in the original is derived from shaan, which means the hatred and spite because of which a person may start ill-treating another. At another place in the Quran it has been said: (And O Muslims,) the enmity of any people should not so provoke you as to turn you away from justice. (Surah Al-Maidah, Ayat 8). Thus, shani aka implies every such person who blinded by his enmity of the Prophet (peace be upon him) should bring false accusations against him, slander and defame him and vent his personal spite against him by taunting and scoffing at him in every possible way.

4. Huwal abtar: He himself is abtar, i.e. though he calls you abtar, he in fact himself is abtar. Some explanations of abtar have already been given in the Introduction to the Surah. It is derived from batar which means to cut off, but idiomatically it is used in a comprehensive meaning. In the Hadith, the rakah of the Prayer which is not coupled with another rakah is called butaira, i.e. the lonely rakah. According to another Hadith, every piece of work, which is in any way important, is abtar if it is started without the glorification and praise of Allah implying that it is cut off from the root; it has no stability; and it is doomed to failure. A man who fails to achieve his object is abtar as also the one who is deprived of all means and resources. A person who is left with no hope of any good and success in life is also abtar. A person who has been cut off from his family, brotherhood, associates and helpers is also abtar. The word abtar is also used for the man who has no male child, or whose male child or children have died, for after him there remains no one to remember him and he is lost to posterity after death. In almost all these meanings the disbelieving Quraish called the Prophet (peace be upon him) abtar. At this, Allah said: O Prophet, not you but your enemies are abtar. This was not merely a reprisal, but a prophecy out of the most important prophecies of the Quran, which literally proved true. When it was made, the people regarded the Prophet (peace be upon him) as abtar, and no one could imagine how the big chiefs of the Quraish would become abtar, who were famous not only in Makkah but throughout Arabia, who were successful in life, rich in worldly wealth and children, who had their associates and helpers everywhere in the country, who enjoyed intimate relations with all the Arabian tribes, being monopolists in trade and managers of Hajj. But not long afterwards the conditions altogether changed. There was a time when on the occasion of the Battle of the Trench (A.H. 5) the Quraish had invaded Al-Madinah with the help of many Arabian and Jewish tribes, and the Prophet (peace be upon him) being besieged had to resist the enemy by digging a trench around the city. After only three years, in A.H. 8, when he attacked Makkah, the Quraish had no helper and they had to surrender helplessly. After this within a year or so the whole Arabia came under his control, deputations of tribes from all over the country began to visit him to take the oaths of allegiance and his enemies were left utterly helpless and resource-less. Then they were so lost to posterity that even if their children survived, none of them today knows that he is a descendent of Abu Jahl, Abu Lahab, Aas bin Wail, or Uqbah bin Abi Muait, the enemies of Islam, and even if he knows it, he is not prepared to claim that his ancestors were those people. On the contrary, blessings are being invoked on the children of the Prophet (peace be upon him) throughout the world; millions and millions of Muslims take pride in bearing relationship to him; hundreds of thousands of people regard it as a mark of honor and prestige to have descended not only from him but from his family and even the families of his companions. Thus, some one is a Sayyid, another an Alavi, and Abbasi, a Hashmi, a Siddiqi, a Faruqi, an Uthmani, a Zubairi, or an Ansari, but no one is an Abu Jahli or Abu Lahabi. History has proved that not the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) but his enemies were, and are, abtar.

Ibn-Kathir

1. Verily, We have granted you Al-Kawthar. 2. Therefore turn in prayer to your Lord and sacrifice. 3. For he who hates you, he will be cut off.) Muslim, Abu Dawud and An-Nasa’i, all recorded from Anas that he said, “While we were with the Messenger of Allah in the Masjid, he dozed off into a slumber. Then he lifted his head smiling. We said, `O Messenger of Allah! What has caused you to laugh’ He said,

(Verily, a Surah was just revealed to me.) Then he recited,

(Verily, We have granted you Al-Kawthar. Therefore turn in prayer to your Lord and sacrifice. For he who hates you, he will be cut off.) Then he said,

(Do you all know what is Al-Kawthar) We said, `Allah and His Messenger know best.’ He said,

(Verily, it is a river that my Lord, the Mighty and Majestic, has promised me and it has abundant goodness. It is a pond where my Ummah will be brought to on the Day of Judgement. Its containers are as numerous as the stars in the sky. Then a servant of Allah from among them will be (prevented from it) and I will say: “O Lord! Verily, he is from my Ummah (followers).” Then He (Allah) will say: “Verily, you do not know what he introduced (or innovated) after you.)” This is the wording of Muslim. Ahmad recorded this Hadith from Muhammad bin Fudayl, who reported from Al-Mukhtar bin Fulful, who reported it from Anas bin Malik. Imam Ahmad also recorded from Anas that the Messenger of Allah said,

(I entered Paradise and I came to a river whose banks had tents made of pearls. So I thrust my hand into its flowing water and found that it was the strongest (smell) of musk. So I asked, “O Jibril! What is this” He replied, “This is Al-Kawthar which Allah, the Mighty and Majestic has given you.”) Al-Bukhari recorded this in his Sahih, and so did Muslim, on the authority of Anas bin Malik. In their version Anas said, “When the Prophet was taken up to the heaven, he said,

(I came to a river whose banks had domes of hollowed pearl. I said: “O Jibril! What is this” He replied: “This is Al-Kawthar.”)” This is the wording of Al-Bukhari. Ahmad recorded from Anas that a man said, “O Messenger of Allah! What is Al-Kawthar” He replied,

(It is a river in Paradise which my Lord has given me. It is whiter than milk and sweeter than honey. There are birds in it whose necks are (long) like carrots.) `Umar said, “O Messenger of Allah! Verily, they (the birds) will be beautiful.” The Prophet replied,

(The one who eats them (i.e., the people of Paradise) will be more beautiful than them, O `Umar.) Al-Bukhari recorded from Sa`id bin Jubayr that Ibn `Abbas said about Al-Kawthar, “It is the good which Allah gave to him (the Prophet).” Abu Bishr said, “I said to Sa`id bin Jubayr, `Verily, people are claiming that it is a river in Paradise.”’ Sa`id replied, `The river which is in Paradise is part of the goodness which Allah gave him.”’ Al-Bukhari also recorded from Sa`id bin Jubayr that Ibn `Abbas said, “Al-Kawthar is the abundant goodness.” This explanation includes the river and other things as well. Because the word Al-Kawthar comes from the word Kathrah (abundance) and it (Al-Kawthar) linguistically means an abundance of goodness. So from this goodness is the river (in Paradise). Imam Ahmad recorded from Ibn `Umar that the Messenger of Allah said,

(Al-Kawthar is a river in Paradise whose banks are of gold and it runs over pearls. Its water is whiter than milk and sweeter than honey.) This Hadith was recorded in this manner by At-Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah, Ibn Abi Hatim and Ibn Jarir. At-Tirmidhi said, “Hasan Sahih.” Then Allah says,

(Therefore turn in prayer to your Lord and sacrifice.) meaning, `just as We have given you the abundant goodness in this life and the Hereafter — and from that is the river that has been described previously — then make your obligatory and optional prayer, and your sacrifice (of animals) solely and sincerely for your Lord. Woship Him alone and do not associate any partner with him. And sacrifice pronouncing His Name alone, without ascribing any partner to Him.’ This is as Allah says,

(Say: “Verily, my Salah, my sacrifice, my living, and my dying are for Allah, the Lord of all that exists. He has no partner. And of this I have been commanded, and I am the first of the Muslims.”) (6:162-163) Ibn `Abbas, `Ata,’ Mujahid, `Ikrimah and Al-Hasan all said, “This means with this the Budn should be sacrificed.” Qatadah, Muhammad bin Ka`b Al-Qurazi, Ad-Dahhak, Ar-Rabi`, `Ata’ Al-Khurasani, Al-Hakam, Isma`il bin Abi Khalid and others from the Salaf have all said the same. This is the opposite of the way of the idolators, prostrating to other than Allah and sacrificing in other than His Name. Allah says,

(And do not eat from what Allah’s Name has not been pronounced over, indeed that is Fisq.) (6:121)

Allah says,

(For he who hates you, he will be cut off.) meaning, `indeed he who hates you, O Muhammad, and he hates what you have come with of guidance, truth, clear proof and manifest light, he is the most cut off, meanest, lowliest person who will not be remembered. Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid, Sa`id bin Jubayr and Qatadah all said, “This Ayah was revealed about Al-`As bin Wa’il. Whenever the Messenger of Allah would be mentioned (in his presence) he would say, `Leave him, for indeed he is a man who is cut off having no descendants. So when he dies he will not be remembered.’ Therefore, Allah revealed this Surah.” Shamir bin `Atiyah said, “This Surah was revealed concerning `Uqbah bin Abi Mu`ayt.” Ibn `Abbas and `Ikrimah have both said, “This Surah was revealed about Ka`b bin Al-Ashraf and a group of the disbelievers of the Quraysh.” Al-Bazzar recorded that Ibn `Abbas said, “Ka`b bin Al-Ashraf came to Makkah and the Quraysh said to him, `You are the leader of them (the people). What do you think about this worthless man who is cut off from his people He claims that he is better than us while we are the people of the place of pilgrimage, the people of custodianship (of the Ka`bah), and the people who supply water to the pilgrims.’ He replied, `You all are better than him.’ So Allah revealed,

(For he who hates you, he will be cut off.)” This is how Al-Bazzar recorded this incident and its chain of narration is authentic. It has been reported that `Ata’ said, “This Surah was revealed about Abu Lahab when a son of the Messenger of Allah died. Abu Lahab went to the idolators and said, `Muhammad has been cut off (i.e., from progeny) tonight.’ So concerning this Allah revealed,

(For he who hates you, he will be cut off.)” As-Suddi said, “When the male sons of a man died the people used to say, `He has been cut off.’ So, when the sons of the Messenger of Allah

died they said, `Muhammad has been cut off.’ Thus, Allah revealed,

(For he who hates you, he will be cut off.)” So they thought in their ignorance that if his sons died, his remembrance would be cut off. Allah forbid! To the contrary, Allah preserved his remembrance for all the world to see, and He obligated all the servants to follow his Law. This will continue for all of time until the Day of Gathering and the coming of the Hereafter. May the blessings of Allah and His peace be upon him forever until the Day of Assembling. This is the end of the Tafsir of Surat Al-Kawthar, and all praise and blessings are due to Allah.

Ibn-Kathir

The tafsir of Surah Kawthar verse 2 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer to Surah Kawthar ayat 1 which provides the complete commentary from verse 1 through 3.

Ibn-Kathir

The tafsir of Surah Kawthar verse 3 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer to Surah Kawthar ayat 1 which provides the complete commentary from verse 1 through 3.

Ibn-Kathir

The tafsir of Surah Kawthar verse 3 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer to Surah Kawthar ayat 1 which provides the complete commentary from verse 1 through 3.