Tafseer of Surah Kauthar

بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ

إِنَّا أَعْطَيْنَاكَ الْكَوْثَرَ ‎(١)‏ فَصَلِّ لِرَبِّكَ وَانْحَرْ ‎(٢) إِنَّ شَانِئَكَ هُوَ الْأَبْتَرُ (٣)

Surely, We have granted you (and blessed you with) abundant good. So offer salaah (prayer) to your Rabb, and offer sacrifice. Surely, the one who hates you, he will be cut-off.

In this surah, Allah Ta‘ala addresses Hazrat Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) saying, “Surely, We have granted you (and blessed you with) abundant good.”

The abundant good which Hazrat Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) was blessed with in this world is seen through his Mubaarak name and honour being exalted, his deen continuing to prosper and grow stronger and stronger, and the numbers of people entering into the deen of Islam increasing day by day.

It has been over 1400 years since the era of nubuwwah, and yet with the passing of each day, Islam is spreading exponentially. All this is among the abundant good which Allah Ta‘ala granted to Hazrat Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) in this world.

Furthermore, in the Hereafter, Allah Ta‘ala has blessed Hazrat Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) with abundant good in this way that his ummah will outnumber all other ummats. In fact, his ummah will outnumber all the other ummats combined.

Nabi (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) mentioned that the people of Jannah will be in 120 saffs, and from among the 120 saffs, 80 saffs will be from the ummah of Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam). In other words, the ummah of Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) will be two-thirds of all the people of Jannah.

Apart from this honour, Allah Ta‘ala will also bless Hazrat Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) with the exalted position of the Maqaam- e-Mahmood.

The Maqaam- e-Mahmood is a position which Hazrat Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) will be exclusively granted where he will be blessed with the honour of interceding on behalf of all mankind for Allah Ta‘ala to commence the reckoning on the Day of Qiyaamah.

Similarly, Allah Ta‘ala has granted Hazrat Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) the honour of being the leader of all the Ambiyaa and Rasuls. Hence, on the Day of Qiyaamah, all the Ambiyaa and Rasuls will be behind the banner of Hazrat Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) when Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) will intercede on behalf of all mankind.

In this regard, Hazrat Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) said, “I am the leader of the progeny of Nabi Aadam (‘alaihis salaam), and on the Day of Qiyaamah, the banner of praise will be in my hand, and behind me will be Nabi Aadam (alaihis salaam) and his entire progeny.”

Also among the abundant good which Allah Ta’ala has blessed Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) with is the fountain of Kauthar in the Hereafter. Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) will serve water to his ummah from his fountain of Kauthar.

In this verse, Allah Ta‘ala says, “Surely, We have granted you (and blessed you with) Kauthar (abundant good).” The word ‘Kauthar’ literally means ‘abundant good’. Hence, this fountain of Kauthar is also from among the good that Allah Ta’ala has blessed Hazrat Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) with.

On the Day of Qiyaamah, people from his ummah will come before him and he will serve them the water of Kauthar which will be whiter than milk and sweeter than honey. It is reported in the Hadith that the utensils of his fountain of Kauthar will be as many as the number of the stars in the sky. Those who will be blessed to drink water from his Mubaarak hands at his fountain of Kauthar will never experience thirst thereafter. (Saheeh Muslim #2300)

However, there will be certain people whom Hazrat Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) considered to be from his Ummah, but on the Day of Qiyaamah, Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) will find that the angels will be turning them away from his fountain and depriving them of the honour of drinking from his blessed hands.

Hazrat Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) will say to the angels, “Why are you preventing them from coming to me whereas they are part of my ummah?” The angels will reply saying, “You do not know what they had done after you had left the world. These people had reneged and moved away from Islam.”

In other words, during the blessed lifetime of Hazrat Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam), they had shown commitment to Islam, but afterwards, they had turned away from Islam.

May Allah Ta’ala protect us all from being from this group of people!

 فَصَلِّ لِرَبِّكَ وَانْحَرْ ‎(٢)

So offer salaah (prayer) to your Rabb, and offer sacrifice.

In the above verse, Allah Ta‘ala informs Hazrat Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) regarding the abundant favours and bounties which Allah Ta‘ala has granted him.

Hazrat Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) was granted such great and abundant bounties which no other human being was blessed with.Thus, in this verse, Hazrat Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) is being told that, out of appreciation and gratitude to Allah Ta‘ala, he should turn to Allah Ta‘ala in salaah and also offer sacrifice.

When Hazrat Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) has been blessed with these great bounties, then we, being his ummah, will also enjoy the goodness and blessings of these bounties, on account of the fact that a Nabi’s goodness and blessings flows onto his ummah. Therefore, being part of his ummah, we are also required to show gratitude to Allah Ta‘ala by offering salaah and sacrifice.

One form of sacrifice is the sacrifice of Qurbaani which we know of; but then there are many other types of sacrifice which we should also make in regard to our life, wealth and actions .

These other forms of sacrifice also enter under the general efforts of sacrifice which an ummati needs to make for the sake of Allah Ta‘ala.

إِنَّ شَانِئَكَ هُوَ الْأَبْتَرُ

Surely, the one who hates you, he will be cut-off

The word ‘Abtar’ mentioned in this verse refers to the one whose progeny and lineage has been cut-off.

When the male children of Nabi (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam), Hazrat Qaasim and Hazrat Ibraheem (radhiyallahu anhuma), had passed away, the enemies found an occasion to taunt him. They said that he is not someone to be concerned or worried about, because his progeny has been cut-off. Just as his progeny has been cut off, soon his mission will also be cut-off because generally, it is the progeny of a person that takes his mission forward.

Hence, in this verse, Allah Ta‘ala consoles Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) and tells him, “The one who hates you, he will be cut off.” (you will not be cut off).

In other words, “Your name, your honour, your mission and all the bounties and favours that Allah Ta‘ala has granted you for yourself and your ummah will continue till the Day of Qiyaamah.”

The shariah and kitaab of every other Nabi has been cancelled with the coming of Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) in the world, and it is only the shariah and kitaab of Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) that will remain till the end of time.

In essence, in this verse, Allah Ta’ala assures his beloved Nabi (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) that his enemy, Aas bin Waa’il or Ka’ab bin Ashraf, or whoever else was speaking out against Nabi (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) – soon they are going to be cut-off and there will be no one to even remember them. Therefore, if it was not for the tafseer of these verses or for the seerah of Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam), then these people’s names would have never featured in the world. In this manner, these people have been completely obliterated from the archives of time.

On the contrary, the blessed progeny of Hazrat Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) continues till today through Hazrat Faatimah (radhiyallahu anha), and it will continue till the Day of Qiyaamah.

Close to Qiyaamah, Imaam Mahdi (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) will lead the Muslims, and he will be from the progeny of Hazrat Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) through Hazrat Faatimah (radhiyallahu anha).

The purpose for which a person wants his progeny to continue is mainly for them to take forward the goals and values that he had been striving for throughout his life, hoping that his mission and values could continue to flow in the world after his demise. Hence, the ummah of Nabi (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) is his spiritual progeny – as they believe in him, follow him and propagate his message. This progeny will continue to prosper and increase till the end of time.

Hence, in all quarters of the world, you will find not hundreds or thousands, but millions of people who want to offer their wealth, time, blood and sweat for the mission of Nabi (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam). Therefore, we find that the greatest person in the world is Hazrat Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam). His book (the Quraan Majeed) is the most read book in the entire world and all his enemies have been obliterated from the face of this world.

One important lesson which we learn from this surah is that when we find any good work taking place, we should have the heart to embrace it, support it and in every way promote it. If we do so, we will be granted a share of goodness in the good work.

On the contrary, if we criticise and condemn the good work, then we will become like Aas bin Waa’il, the enemy of Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam), who criticized Nabi (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) for propogating deen.

Similarly just as he was cut off, losing his name, reputation and everything else, if we tread on his path, then we will also face the same fate.

However, if we tread on the path of the sunnah and support the sunnah in every way, then Allah Ta‘ala will cause our name and our good to flourish in the world, even after we leave the world.