To You Your Religion and To Me Mine (Qur'an 109:1-6)

Say: O disbelievers!
I worship not that which ye worship;
Nor worship ye that which I worship.
And I shall not worship that which ye worship.
Nor will ye worship that which I worship.
Unto you your religion, and unto me my religion.

Say: O unbelievers!
I do not serve that which you serve,
Nor do you serve Him Whom I serve:
Nor am I going to serve that which you serve,
Nor are you going to serve Him Whom I serve:
You shall have your religion and I shall have my religion.

Say: O ye that reject Faith!
I worship not that which ye worship,
Nor will ye worship that which I worship.
And I will not worship that which ye have been wont to worship,
Nor will ye worship that which I worship.
To you be your Way, and to me mine.

It is narrated by Muslim that the Messenger of Allah sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam used to recite this Surah with Surah Al-Ikhlas in two raka'at following tawaf of the Ka'bah; it is also narrated by Muslim that he used to recite them in the two raka'at of fajr prayer; and Imam Ahmad narrates that the Messenger of Allah sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam used to recite them in the two raka'at before fajr prayer and in the two raka'at of maghrib prayer.

It has also been narrated that Surah Al-Kafirun is equivalent to one quarter of the Qur'an. The Prophet, sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam, also said: "Read: 'Say: 'Oh, you who disbelieve,', then sleep at the end of it because it is freedom from shirk (associating partners with Allah)." This Surah is freedom from shirk and it is an order to purify our faith (for Allah only) and the Words Say: 'Oh you who disbelieve,' includes all those who disbelieve in the world although those specifically addressed are the pagans of the Quraysh. It was said that they proposed that the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam, worship their gods for a year, then they would worship that which he worshipped (Allah) for a year, and so on. And so this Surah was revealed containing an order to the Prophet, sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam, to declare his rejection of all that which they worship, and to say: I do not worship that which you worship, that is, their idols and the partners they associate with Allah.

"Nor do you worship that which I worship," that is, Allah, Alone without partners.

"Nor will I worship that which you have been worshipping, neither will you worship that which I worship," that is, I will not follow your mode of worship and I will worship only Allah in the way which pleases Him.

"Neither will you worship that which I worship" means, neither will you follow the Commands of Allah and His prescribed way of worship; indeed you have invented a thing for yourselves, as in His Words: "They follow nothing but their own opinions and the (vain) desires of themselves, and Guidance has already come to them from their Lord." [Al-Qur'an 53:23] And so he rejected all of their shirk, for the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam, and all those who follow him worship Allah in the way prescribed by Him; for this reason the testimony of the Muslim is La ilaha illallah, Muhammad ar-Rasulullah – None is worthy of worship except Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. And there is no way to worship Him except that which was brought by the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam. The polytheists worship deities besides Allah in a way not permitted by Allah and so He told the Prophet sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam to say to them: "To you your religion and to me mine", as in His Words: "And if they reject you, then say: 'To me my deeds and to you your deeds and you are innocent of my accounts and I am innocent of yours,' " [Al-Qur'an 10:41] and, "For us our deeds and for you your deeds." [Al-Qur'an 28:55] According to Al-Bukhari your religion means kufr (disbelief) and my religion means Islam.

Abu 'Abdillah ash-Shafi'i says that the verse "To you your religion and to me mine" shows that the disbelievers are one people ... because disbelief in all its many manifestations has one thing in common – that is, falsity.

There was a time in Makkah when although a storm of opposition had arisen in the pagan society of Quraish against the message of Islam preached by the Holy Prophet (upon whom be peace), yet the Quraish chiefs hall not yet lost hope that they would reach some sort of a compromise with him. Therefore, from time to time they would visit him with different proposals of compromise so that he accepted one of them and the dispute between them was brought to an end.
. . .
If the Surah is read with this background in mind, one finds that it was not revealed to preach religious tolerance as some people of today seem to think, but it was revealed in order to exonerate the Muslims from the disbelievers religion, their rites of worship, and their gods, and to express their total disgust and unconcern with them and to tell them that Islam and kufr (unbelief) had nothing in common and there was no possibility of their being combined and mixed into one entity. Although it was addressed in the beginning to the disbelieving Quraish in response to their proposals of compromise, yet it is not confined to them only, but having made it a part of the Quran, Allah gave the Muslims the eternal teaching that they should exonerate themselves by word and deed from the creed of kufr wherever and in whatever form it be, and should declare without any reservation that they cannot make any compromise with the disbelievers in the matter of Faith. That is why this Surah continued to be recited when the people to whom it was addressed as a rejoinder, had died and been forgotten, and those Muslims also continued to recite it who were disbelievers at the time it was revealed, and the Muslims still recite it centuries after they have passed away, for expression of disgust with and dissociation from kufr and its rites is a perpetual demand of Faith.