109. Al-Kafirun
Those Who Deny The Truth
Asad's Introduction
REVEALED shortly after surah 107.
SAY: "O you who deny the truth!
"I do not worship that which you worship,
and neither do you worship that which I worship!
"And I will not worship that which you have [ever] worshipped,
and neither will you [ever] worship that which I worship.
Unto you, your moral law, and unto me, mine !"
Asad's Commentary (3 notes)
In the above rendering, the particle ma ("that which") alludes, on the one hand, to all positive concepts and ethical values - e.g., belief in God and the believer's self-surrender to Him - and, on the other, to false objects of worship and false values, such as man's belief in his own supposed "self-sufficiency" (cf. 96:6-7), or his overriding, almost compulsive "greed for more and more" (surah 102).
Sc., "so long as you are unwilling to abandon the false values which cause you to deny the truth ".
Lit., "unto me, my moral law". The primary significance of din is "obedience"; in particular, obedience to a law or to what is conceived as a system of established - and therefore binding - usages, i.e., something endowed with moral authority: hence "religion", "faith.' or "religious law" in the widest sense of these terms (cf. first half of note 249 on 2:256); or simply "moral law", as in the above instance as well as in 42:21, 95:7, 98:5 or 107:1.