Qur'an and Tafsir
"For you your religion, and for me mine"
Makkah offered to share its gods. The answer took six lines.
4 min, Intro, Draft written with AI help: awaiting scholar review
Part 1 of 3
The commentators report that leading men of Quraysh, the ruling tribe of Makkah, came to Muhammad ﷺ with a compromise. Worship our gods for a year, and we will worship your God for a year. The surah opens with the reply: "Say".
Qur'an 109:1
قُلۡ يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلۡكَٰفِرُونَ ١
1 Say, "O disbelievers,
The story behind it
The reports do not agree on the offer. A year each. Wealth, a marriage and the leadership of Makkah, if he stopped criticising the idols. Or just touch one of our gods. Ma'ariful Qur'an suggests that Quraysh tried several times.
Lesson
Quraysh offered to share. The message was that worship cannot be shared.
Part 2 of 3
The answer comes in four short lines. I do not worship what you worship. You do not worship what I worship. Then the same two again, slightly changed. Commentators have asked for centuries why it is said twice.
Qur'an 109:2
لَآ أَعۡبُدُ مَا تَعۡبُدُونَ ٢
2 I do not worship what you worship.
Where scholars differ
Why does al-Kafirun refuse twice? One reading: not now, and not ever. Ibn Kathir's reading: we do not share a god, and we do not share a way of worshipping. A third: it is repeated for force, because Quraysh kept asking.
Lesson
The refusal is said twice, and the second time is not just an echo.
Part 3 of 3
The surah ends: for you is your religion, and for me is my religion. It is one of the most quoted lines in the Qur'an. Commentators agree it marks a boundary. They differ on how much more it says.
Qur'an 109:6
لَكُمۡ دِينُكُمۡ وَلِيَ دِينِ ٦
6 For you is your religion, and for me is my religion."
Where scholars differ
Some commentators held that "for you your religion" was replaced by later rulings on war. Ma'ariful Qur'an says most scholars disagreed: the line never approved of idol worship, so there was nothing to cancel. It refuses mixed worship, not peace.
Lesson
The surah ends the bargaining without a threat: your way is yours, and mine is mine.
Reflect, just for you
Seen by lamplight. It gives more each time.
Makkah offered to share its gods. The answer took six lines.