Chapter 109 - Surah Kafirun

Revealed in Mecca

Nawfal al-Ashja‘i (may Allah be pleased with him) said:

The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said to me:

“Recite ‘Say: O disbelievers’ [al-Kafirun 109], then go to sleep at the end of it, for it is a disavowal of shirk.”

Narrated by Abu Dawud (5055); 
classed as hasan by Ibn Hajar in Nataij al-Afkar (3/61)

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Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) recited in the two Sunnah rak‘ahs of Fajr :

{Qul ya ayyuha’l-kafirun (Say, "O disbelievers)} [al-Kafirun 109] and {Qul huwa Allahu ahad (Say, He is Allah, [who is] One)} [al-Ikhlas 112].

Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said:

I watched the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) twenty times reciting in the two rak‘ahs after Maghrib and in the two rak‘ahs before Fajr, :

{Qul ya ayyuha’l-kafirun (Say, "O disbelievers)} [al-Kafirun 109] and {Qul huwa Allahu ahad (Say, He is Allah, [who is] One)} [al-Ikhlas 112].

(Narrated by al-Nasai, 992)

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Surah {Qul ya ayyuhu’l-kafirun (Say, O disbelievers)} [al-Kafirun 109] refers to tawhid al-‘ibadah (oneness of worship), which means that one should not worship anyone or anything except Allah, and should not associate anyone with Him in worship. Hence the Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) used to start the day with them in the Sunnah prayer of Fajr , and he would end the day with them in the Sunnah prayer of Maghrib. In as-Sunan, it is narrated that he used to recite these surahs in Witr, so they were also a conclusion to the deeds of the night, just as they were a conclusion to the deeds of the day.”

(This was stated by Ibn al-Qayyim in Badai‘ al-Fawaid, 1/145-146)

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Al-Nasai (1729) narrated that Ubayy ibn Ka’b said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) used to recite in Witr :

Sabbih isma rabbika al-‘a’la (“Glorify the name of your Lord, the Most High” – Surah al-A’la 87), Qul ya ayyuha’l-kafirun (“Say: O disbelievers…” – Surah al-Kafirun 109) and Qul Huwa Allahu ahad (“Say: He is Allah, the One” – Surah al-Ikhlas 112).

Classed as sahih by al-Albani in Saheeh al-Nasai