SURAH 108

Al-Kawthar
(Abundance)

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In the Name of God, the Lord of Grace, the Ever Merciful.

We have certainly given you abundance. (1) ∩⊇∪ trOöθs3ø9$# š≈oΨø‹sÜôãr& !$¯ΡÎ)

So pray to your Lord and sacrifice to Him. (2) ∩⊄∪ öptùΥ$#uρ y7În/tÏ9 Èe≅|Ásù

Surely, he who hates you is the one cut off. (3)

Overview

Similar to Sūrahs 93 and 94, The Morning Hours and Solace, this sūrah exclusively
concerns the Prophet, seeking to cheer him up and assure him of happier prospects
in his struggle. In it God threatens his enemies with destruction while directing the
Prophet to the path of thanksgiving.
The sūrah represents a glimpse of the Prophet’s life and the course of his mission
in the early period at Makkah. It deals with the plots and insults directed against the
Prophet and the divine message he conveys. The sūrah is an example of God’s
protection of His servant, the Prophet Muĥammad, and the few who followed him
and believed in God. It is an instance of God’s direct support to the believers in their
struggle, supplying them with fortitude, restraint and promise, while threatening a
terrible fate on their antagonists.
In this way, the sūrah symbolizes the reality of guidance, goodness and faith on
the one hand and that of error, evil and disbelief on the other; the former category is
one of abundance, profusion and expansive goodness, the latter one of scantiness,

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shrinking resources and annihilation.

Background

Among the people of the Quraysh, the Arab tribe which controlled Makkah, there
were some impudent folk who viewed the Prophet and his mission with no small
degree of antagonism. They would resort to machinations and taunts against him to
deter the people from listening to the truth which he conveyed to them in the form of
a divine message. Among them were people like Al-`Āş ibn Wā’il, `Uqbah ibn Abī
Mu`ayţ, Abū Lahab, Abū Jahl and others. They said about the Prophet that he was a
man with no posterity, referring to the early death of his sons. One of them once
remarked, “Do not be bothered with him; he will die without descendants and that
will be the end of his mission.”
Such a trivial and cunning taunt had a wide impact on the Arab society of the
time, which set great store by sons. Such taunting delighted the Prophet’s enemies
and undoubtedly this was a source of depression and irritation to his noble heart.
This sūrah was therefore revealed to comfort the Prophet and assure him of the
abiding and profuse goodness which God had chosen for him and of the deprivation
and loss awaiting his persecutors.

Blessings in Abundance

“We have certainly given you abundance.” (Verse 1) The word used in the sūrah and
rendered here as ‘abundance’ is kawthar, derived from the stem word kathrah which
signifies ‘abundance’ or ‘a multitude’. This kawthar is unrestricted and unlimited. It
indicates the opposite meaning to the one the impudent Quraysh tried to attach to
the Prophet. We have given you that which is plentiful, overflowing and rich,
unstinting and unending.
If anyone wishes to pursue and observe this abundance which God has given to
His Prophet, he will find it wherever he looks and reflects. He will find it in
Muĥammad’s prophethood itself, which gave him a link with the great reality and
the Supreme Being, who has no parallel and no partner. What indeed can the one
who has found God be said to have lost?
He will also find it in this Qur’ān which was revealed to Muĥammad, every
chapter of which is a fountain of richness that flows incessantly.
Moreover, he will find this kawthar, or abundance, manifest in Muslims’ following
of the Prophet’s sunnah, i.e. way of life, throughout the centuries, in the far-flung
corners of the earth, in the millions upon millions who follow in his footsteps and
pronounce his name with respectful affection. He will see it in the millions upon

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millions of hearts that cherish his example and memory even to the Day of
Resurrection.
He will also find this kawthar, or abundance, manifest in the goodness and
prosperity which have accrued to the human race as a result of his message, and
which reach those who know and believe in him as well as those who do not. He will
also discern this abundance in various and manifold phenomena, attempting to
enumerate which give, at best, only a passing feeling of a great reality.
This indeed is abundance in its absolute and unlimited sense. The sūrah, therefore,
does not give it a specific definition. Several accounts relate that ‘al-kawthar’ is a river
in heaven granted to the Prophet. However, Ibn `Abbās, the Prophet’s learned
cousin, contends that the river is but one part of the abundance which God has
furnished for His Messenger. Keeping the circumstances and the whole context in
mind, Ibn `Abbās’s view is the more valid.
“So pray to your Lord and sacrifice to Him.” (Verse 2) Having assured the Prophet of
this munificent gift, which disproves what the calumniators and wicked schemers
say, God directs the Prophet to be completely and sincerely thankful to Him for His
bounty. He is to devote himself to Him alone in worship and ritual slaughter, taking
no heed whatsoever of any form of idolatry and refusing to participate in the
worship rituals offered by idolaters, especially when they invoke anyone other than
God in their offerings.
Islam frequently lays emphasis on the pronouncing of God’s name when
slaughtering animals. It prohibits anything that is consecrated to any other being,
which indicates the importance Islam attaches to the purification of human life from
all forms of idolatry and all that leads to it. Because it is based on the principle of
God’s oneness in its purest sense, Islam does not aim merely at purifying human
imagination and conscience. It pursues idolatry in all its manifestations, striving to
eliminate its marks in man’s consciousness, worship rituals and general behaviour.
Life, Islam says, is one indivisible entity and must be treated as such. It must be
cleansed inside out and completely oriented towards God, in all its aspects: worship,
tradition and social behaviour.
“Surely, he who hates you is the one cut off” (Verse 3) In the first verse, God specified
that Muĥammad was not the one who had no posterity but, on the contrary, was the
one endowed with abundance. In this verse, God throws back the taunt on those who
hated and reviled the Prophet. Indeed, God’s promise has come true. For, the
influence and legacy of Muĥammad’s enemies were short-lived, while his impact on
human life and history has grown and deepened. Today we are witnessing the truth
of this divine pronouncement as clearly as no one among those addressed by the
Qur’ān for the first time ever did or imagined.

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Faith and goodness cannot be barren. Their influence is both profound and deep-
rooted. By contrast, falsehood, error and evil may grow and spread quickly, but they
ultimately come to nothing.
God’s criteria are different from the criteria laid down by man. Men are often
deceived when they vainly believe their sense of judgement to be the criterion. Before
us is the eloquent and enduring example of the Prophet. Of what value or interest to
humanity have Muĥammad’s slanderers and foes been to anyone?
On the other hand, calling others to the religion of God, to truth and goodness, can
never be called futile. Neither can the righteous and the true be called deprived or
cut off. How can it be, when this message itself comes from, and is supported by,
God, the Immortal, the Eternal? But deprived and sterile indeed are disbelief, error
and evil as are their votaries, however strong and widespread they may appear to be
at any moment.
God affirms the truth; wily opponents are but liars!

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