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Verses 1–3 ​

Chapter 108: Al-Kawthar (The Abundance) · Printed edition: Volume 40, pp. 349–354

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ

In the name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful

This sūrah was revealed in Mecca and consists of 3 verses. It is a description of how God has graced and favored the Prophet by giving him the kawthar, and comforts his noble soul by telling him that it is his enemy who is childless. This is the shortest sūrah of the Qur’an. While narrations disagree over where it was revealed, it appears to have been revealed in Mecca. Some exegetes have suggested that it was revealed twice, as a way of reconciling the narrations.

Commentary ​

إِنَّا أَعْطَيْنَاكَ الْكَوْثَرَ ١

(108:1) Indeed We have given you abundance (al-kawthar).

Majmaʿ al-bayān says:

Kawthar (based on the verbal pattern fawʿal) means “something that is embedded with abundance.” Here it means “abundant good.”

Exegetes have disagreed enormously over the meaning of kawthar. Here is a list of their interpretations:

  1. A stream in paradise.
  2. The Prophet’s fountain in paradise or on the plains of Resurrection.
  3. The Prophet’s children.
  4. His Companions and followers, until the Day of Resurrection.
  5. The scholars of his nation.
  6. The Qur’an and its plentiful merits.
  7. Prophethood.
  8. The way the Qur’an was made easy [to receive, recite, understand and/or implement], and the lightening of the divine law [given to him, compared to the previous codes of law].
  9. Islam.
  10. Monotheism (tawḥīd).
  11. Knowledge and wisdom.
  12. The Prophet’s merits.
  13. The praiseworthy station ().
  14. The light in the Prophet’s heart.

Comment: According to some exegetes, the list goes on to 26 views. While the first two interpretations are deduced from the narrations, the others involve some arbitrary impositions of meaning on the verse. We can deduce the verse’s meaning in the light of the last verse in the chapter: Indeed it is your insulter who is cut-off (). The word “cut-off” (abtar) apparently means “a person whose lineage ends with himself, a childless person, one who has no progeny.” Moreover, the verse is apparently mentioned as a stylistic inversion [implying the meaning of “on the contrary”]. Therefore, the current verse specifically refers to the abundant progeny of the Prophet. That is the kawthar which was given to him. Alternatively, it can mean abundant good in general, where having abundant descendants is a part of that. Otherwise [without the sense of progeny], it would not make sense to present the last verse as the fact of the matter.

Indeed We have given you (aʿṭaynāka, from iʿṭāʾ)…: The verse has a tone of showing favor upon the Prophet. That is why it refers to God using the first person plural, indicating greatness and glorification. The verse also comforts the noble soul of the Prophet, emphasized by the word Indeed, and by using the verb iʿtāʾ (to give, to grant, to bestow upon), which typically denotes granting ownership.

The verse suggests that the children of Fāṭimah count as the Prophet’s lineage. This is also one of the forecasts of the Qur’an, for God multiplied the Prophet’s descendants [through her] after him, to the point that no other lineage outnumbers them, even though they have widely persecuted and frequently massacred.

فَصَلِّ لِرَبِّكَ وَانْحَرْ ٢

(108:2) So pray to your Lord, and mark the throat (inḥar, from naḥr).

The letter fāʾ (so, then, therefore) at the beginning of this verse shows that it is stated as a conclusion to the last verse: Indeed We have given you abundance (). Since the last verse has a tone of showing favor upon the Prophet, the commands in this verse—to pray and to mark the throat—are expressions of gratitude for God’s blessing. The meaning is: “Since We have gifted you with the abundance, be grateful to it through praying and marking the throat.”

According to Sunni and Shia narrations from the Prophet and Imam ʿAlī, as well as Shia narrations from Imam al-Sadiq and other Imams, what is meant by naḥr here is “raising the hands to the neck when saying Allāh akbar in the ritual prayer.” Other suggested views are:

  1. Pray the Eid prayer [on the Day of Sacrifice], and offer a camel.
  2. Stand upright after bowing (rukūʿ) and raising your head.

إِنَّ شَانِئَكَ هُوَ الْأَبْتَرُ ٣

(108:3) Indeed it is your insulter (shāniʾaka) who is cut-off (al-abtar).

Shāniʾ is synonymous with mubghiḍ (enemy, opponent, one who dislikes another). Abtar means “one who has no children.” Your insulter refers to al-ʿĀṣ b. Wāʾil. Two other suggested interpretations for the word abtar are:

  1. One who is cut off from all good.
  2. One who is cut off from his people.

Comment: Based on these interpretations, God revealed this chapter to tell the insulter that it was he—and not the Prophet—who is cut off from all good [or from his people]. However, these views are contrary to mustafīḍah (multiple, diffused, numerous) narrations, which shall be presented below. According to the narrations the chapter was revealed with reference to someone who mocked the Prophet for being childless after the death of his two sons Qāsim and ʿAbd-Allāh.

Examining Narrations ​

  1. Abū Bishr said: Saʿīd b. Jubayr narrated from Ibn ʿAbbās: “Kawthar is the good which God gave the Prophet.” I asked Saʿīd b. Jubayr, “Some people claim that it is a stream in paradise.” He replied, “The heavenly stream is one of the good things that God bestowed upon the Prophet.”
  2. When this sūrah—Indeed We have given you abundance… ()—was revealed to the Prophet, the Prophet asked Gabriel, “What is this sacrifice (naḥīrah) which I have been commanded to?”

“It is not a sacrifice,” said Gabriel. “God is commanding you to raise your hands beside your neck when you are about to begin the ritual prayer and say Allāh akbar, and also when you bow and raise your head after bowing. This is indeed our prayer, the prayer of the angels in all seven heavens. Everything has an adornment, and the adornment of the ritual prayer is raising the hands when saying Allāh akbar.”

  1. The Prophet said: Raising the hands [in prayer] is [a gesture of] humbleness, as God says: yet they neither humbled themselves to their Lord, nor did they entreat [God for mercy] ().
  2. Imam ʿAlī said: The meaning of naḥr () is raising the hands to the naḥr (neck, throat) in the ritual prayer.
  3. Concerning So pray to your Lord () Imam al-Bāqir said: “That is the ritual prayer.” Concerning and mark the throat () he said: “It means raising the hands at the beginning of the prayer.”
  4. Regarding So pray to your Lord, and mark the throat (inḥar, from naḥr) () Ibn ʿAbbās said: God revealed to His Messenger: “Raise your hands next to your throat when you proclaim Allāh akbar for the ritual prayer.” That is the meaning of naḥr.
  5. Concerning So pray to your Lord, and mark the throat () Imam al-Ṣādiq said: It is raising your hands next to your face.
  6. Ibn ʿAbbās said: The eldest child of the Messenger of God was al-Qāsim. Then came Zaynab, ʿAbd-Allāh, Umm Kulthūm, Fāṭimah, and finally Ruqayyah. The first of his children to die in Mecca was al-Qāsim, followed by ʿAbd-Allāh. At that point, al-ʿĀs b. Wāʾil al-Sahmī said, “His lineage has been cut off, so he is abtar (cut-off, childless).” Thus God revealed: Indeed it is your insulter who is cut-off ().
  7. [Imam] Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad narrated from his father: Al-Qāsim, the son of God’s Messenger, died in Mecca. When the Messenger of God was coming back from his funeral, he came across al-ʿĀs b. Wāʾil and his son ʿAmr. When he [al-ʿĀs] saw the Messenger of God, he said, “Indeed I shall mock him.” So al-ʿĀs b. Wāʾil said, “He has certainly become abtar (cut-off, childless).” Thus God revealed: Indeed it is your insulter who is cut-off ().
  8. Al-Suddī said: When a man’s son died, the Quraysh would say, “So-and-so is cut off (batara).” So when the Prophet’s son died, al-ʿĀs b. Wāʾil said, “He is cut off,” where abtar means fard (solo, alone, odd).

Author’s comment: There are also other individuals who are identified as the insulter () in the narrations, including: Walīd b. Mughīrah, Abū Jahl, ʿUqbat b. Abī Muʿayṭ, and Kaʿb b. al-Ashraf. However, what we quoted above [that it was al-ʿĀs b. Wāʾil] is more reliable, and is also confirmed by the next narration.

  1. Part of Imam al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī’s debate with ʿAmr b. al-ʿĀṣ was: You were born to a shared bed. Several men from the Quraysh claimed you, including Abū Sufyān b. Ḥarb, al-Walīd b. al-Mughīrah, ʿUthmān b. al-Ḥārith, al-Naḍr b. al-Ḥārith b. Kaladah, and al-ʿĀṣ b. Wāʾil. Each of them believed that you were his son. But the one who dominated the others in his claim was the one with the basest family background, the most wicked social status, and the most adulterous record. Then you stood up to deliver a sermon and declared, “I am going to mock Muḥammad.” And al-ʿĀṣ b. Wāʾil said, “Muḥammad is cut-off (abtar): he has no sons. Once he dies, he slips into oblivion.” So God revealed: Indeed it is your insulter who is cut-off ().
  2. Regarding Indeed We have given you al-kawthar () Tafsīr al-Qummī says: Kawthar is a stream in paradise which God gave to Muḥammad in exchange for taking away his son Ibrāhīm.

Author’s comment: There are a few problems with this narration: (1) It does not name the Imam (muḍmar). (2) It has no chain of transmission (mursal). (3) It contradicts the other narrations. Nevertheless, interpreting kawthar as a heavenly stream does not conflict with interpreting it as “abundant good,” as we saw in the narration from Ibn Jubayr [number 1].

  1. Inḥar is often translated as “sacrifice,” referring specifically to offering a camel. The root naḥr literally means “the area under the neck and above the chest.” Camels were commonly slaughtered by first piercing a knife or lance in their throat. Sacrifice is a plausible meaning here since it was a major act of worship and a common expression of gratitude. Meanwhile, since this verse is the sole Qur’anic usage of this root, the meaning of inḥar cannot be deduced from or verified by other verses. That is why the author has resorted to the narrations. Raising the hands in prayer is also a plausible meaning since it is congruous with the first command. (Ed.) ↩︎

  2. More literally: “one who has no continuation.” (Ed.) ↩︎

  3. Al-Durr al-manthūr, on the authority of al-Bukharī, Ibn Jarīr, and al-Ḥākim. ↩︎

  4. Al-Durr al-manthūr, on the authority of Ibn Abī Ḥātim, al-Ḥākim, Ibn Mardawayh and al-Bayhaqī’s al-Sunan, from ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib. ↩︎

  5. Al-Durr al-manthūr. This is also related in Majmaʿ al-bayān from the Imam, on the authority of al-Muqātil on the authority of al-Asbagh b. Nubātah. It then adds: “Al-Thaʿlabī and al-Wāḥidī have also reported it in their books of tafsīr.” ↩︎

  6. Majmaʿ al-bayān, narrated from all his pure descendants. ↩︎

  7. Al-Durr al-manthūr, on the authority of Ibn Jarīr. ↩︎

  8. Al-Durr al-manthūr, on the authority of Ibn Mardawayh. ↩︎

  9. Majmaʿ al-bayān, on the authority of ʿUmar b. Yazīd. Similar narrations to this are reported from the Imam on the authorities of ʿAbd-Allāh b. Sinān and Jamīl. ↩︎

  10. Al-Durr al-manthūr, on the authority of Ibn Saʿd and Ibn ʿAsākir, on the authority of al-Kalbī, on the authority of Abū Sāliḥ. ↩︎

  11. Al-Durr al-manthūr, on the authority of al-Zubayr b. Bakkār and Ibn ʿAsākir. ↩︎

  12. Al-Durr al-manthūr, on the authority of Ibn Abī Ḥātim. ↩︎

  13. That is, it is not clear who your father was. (Trans.) ↩︎

  14. Al-Iḥtijāj. ↩︎