بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ

قُلۡ یٰۤاَیُّہَا الۡکٰفِرُوۡنَ ۙ﴿۱﴾ لَاۤ اَعۡبُدُ مَا تَعۡبُدُوۡنَ ۙ﴿۲﴾ وَ لَاۤ اَنۡتُمۡ عٰبِدُوۡنَ مَاۤ اَعۡبُدُ ۚ﴿۳﴾ وَ لَاۤ اَنَا عَابِدٌ مَّا عَبَدۡتُّمۡ ۙ﴿۴﴾ وَ لَاۤ اَنۡتُمۡ عٰبِدُوۡنَ مَاۤ اَعۡبُدُ ؕ﴿۵﴾ لَکُمۡ دِیۡنُکُمۡ وَلِیَ دِیۡنِ ٪﴿۶﴾

اللہ کے نام سے جو رحمان و رحیم ہے۔

کہہ دو کہ اے کافرو، میں اُن کی عبادت نہیں کرتا جن کی عبادت تم کرتے ہو، اور نہ تم اُس کی عبادت کرنے والے ہو جس کی عبادت میں کرتا ہوں۔ اور نہ میں اُن کی عبادت کرنے والا ہوں جن کی عبادت تم نے کی ہے، اور نہ تم اُس کی عبادت کرنے والے ہو جس کی عبادت میں کرتا ہوں۔ تمہارے لیے تمہارا دین ہے اور میرے لیے میرا دین۔ ؏١

Surah Al-Kafirun (109)

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Say: O disbelievers!
I do not worship what you worship,
nor are you worshippers of what I worship.
Nor will I ever be a worshipper of what you worship,
nor will you ever be worshippers of what I worship.
For you is your religion, and for me is my religion.

Translation: Surah Al-Kafirun — Historical Background & Theme

Historical Background
There was a period in Makkah when, although a storm of opposition had already arisen among the polytheist Qurayshi society against the Prophet’s ﷺ call to Islam, the chiefs of Quraysh had not yet completely given up hope that they might somehow persuade him ﷺ to accept a compromise. Hence, from time to time, they would come to him with various proposals of reconciliation, hoping he ﷺ would accept one of them and the dispute that had arisen between them would be resolved.
Several narrations on this matter have been recorded in the hadith literature:
Ibn Abbas (رضی اللہ عنہ) narrates that the people of Quraysh said to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: “We will give you so much wealth that you become the richest man in Makkah. We will arrange your marriage with whichever woman you desire. We are ready to follow you — just accept this one condition: stop speaking ill of our gods.” If this was not acceptable, they presented another proposal: “We suggest something that benefits both of us — spend one year worshipping our gods Laat and ’Uzza, and we will spend one year worshipping your God.”
The Prophet ﷺ replied: “Wait — let me see what command comes from my Lord.”
This does not mean that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ considered this proposal acceptable — or even worth considering — or that he gave this reply hoping Allah might perhaps approve it. Rather, this was exactly like a subordinate officer who, faced with an unreasonable demand that he knows his government will never accept, instead of flatly refusing himself, says: “I will forward your request to the higher authority and inform you of whatever response comes.” The difference this makes is that if the officer refuses himself, people persist in demanding; but if he informs them that the government’s own answer has come against their demand, they lose hope entirely.
In response to this, the revelation descended: “Qul yā ayyuhal-kāfirūn…” and also: “Say: Is it other than Allah you order me to worship, O ignorant ones?” (Az-Zumar: 64) — [Ref: Ibn Jarir, Ibn Abi Hatim, Tabarani]
Another narration from Ibn Abbas (رضی اللہ عنہ) states that the Quraysh said to the Prophet ﷺ: “O Muhammad, if you kiss our idol-gods, we will worship your God.” Upon this, this Surah was revealed. [Ref: Abd ibn Humayd]
Sa’id ibn Mina’ (freed slave of Abu al-Bakhtari) narrates that Walid ibn al-Mughirah, ‘As ibn Wa’il, Aswad ibn al-Muttalib, and Umayyah ibn Khalaf met the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said: “O Muhammad, come — we will worship your God, and you worship our gods. We will make you a partner in all our affairs. If what you have brought turns out to be better than what we have, we will join you in it and take our share from it. And if what we have turns out to be better than what you brought, you will join us in it and take your share from it.” Upon this, Allah revealed: “Qul yā ayyuhal-kāfirūn…” [Ref: Ibn Jarir, Ibn Abi Hatim; also recorded by Ibn Hisham in his Sirah]
Wahb ibn Munabbih narrates that the Quraysh said to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: “If you wish, we will enter your religion for one year, and you enter our religion for one year.” [Ref: Abd ibn Humayd, Ibn Abi Hatim]
From these narrations it is evident that these proposals were not made in a single sitting, but were presented on different occasions at different times. There was therefore a need to give them a decisive, unambiguous answer once and for all — to extinguish forever their hope that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ might reach some give-and-take compromise with them in matters of religion.

Theme and Subject Matter
Keeping this background in view, it becomes clear that this Surah was not revealed to teach religious tolerance — as some people today mistakenly believe — but rather to declare complete disavowal, aversion, and dissociation from the religion of the disbelievers, their worship, and their gods; and to make clear to them that the religion of disbelief and the religion of Islam are entirely distinct from one another, and there is simply no question of the two ever merging.
Although these words were initially addressed to the Qurayshi disbelievers in response to their proposals of compromise, they are not limited to them. By being recorded in the Quran, all Muslims until the Day of Judgment have been taught that wherever and in whatever form disbelief exists, they must express disavowal of it in word and deed, and must declare unequivocally that they cannot engage in any form of flattery or compromise with disbelievers in matters of religion.
This is precisely why this Surah continued to be recited even after those people to whom it was first revealed had died; and those who were disbelievers at the time of its revelation continued to recite it after accepting Islam; and centuries after their passing, Muslims recite it to this day — because disavowal of disbelief and its practitioners is an eternal and permanent demand of faith.

Importance of This Surah in the Prophet’s ﷺ Sight
The following ahadith give a measure of the importance the Messenger of Allah ﷺ attached to this Surah:
• Ibn Umar (رضی اللہ عنہ) narrates: “I have many times seen the Prophet ﷺ reciting Qul yā ayyuhal-kāfirūn and Qul huwa Allāhu Ahad in the two rak’ahs before Fajr and after Maghrib.” — [Ref: Ahmad, Tirmidhi, Nasa’i, Ibn Majah, Ibn Hibban, Ibn Mardawayh]
• Khabbab (رضی اللہ عنہ) reports that the Prophet ﷺ said to him: “When you lie down on your bed to sleep, recite Qul yā ayyuhal-kāfirūn.” — [Ref: Abu Ya’la, Tabarani]
• Anas (رضی اللہ عنہ) narrates that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to Mu’adh ibn Jabal: “Recite Qul yā ayyuhal-kāfirūn before sleeping, for it is a declaration of disavowal from shirk.” — [Ref: Bayhaqi in Shu’ab al-Iman]
• Farwah ibn Nawfal and Abd al-Rahman ibn Nawfal both report that their father, Nawfal ibn Mu’awiyah al-Ashja’i (رضی اللہ عنہ), asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: “Tell me something I may recite before sleeping.” He ﷺ replied: “Recite Qul yā ayyuhal-kāfirūn to the end, then sleep — for it is a disavowal from shirk.” — [Ref: Musnad Ahmad, Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, Nasa’i, Ibn Abi Shaybah, Hakim, Ibn Mardawayh, Bayhaqi]
A similar request was made by Jablah ibn Harithah, the brother of Zayd ibn Harithah (رضی اللہ عنہ), and he too received the same reply from the Prophet ﷺ. — [Ref: Musnad Ahmad, Tabarani]