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Recordings › Monday Nights with Mufti #202| Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth · 16 Feb 2021 › Segment 24 of 57

Why does Surah al-Kafirun say 'ma' (what) instead of 'man' (who) for God?

muftis sura soorah surat suwar soora chapter ibadah ibada ibaadah ibadat

Surah al-Kafirun: why 'ma' (that which) and not 'man' (who)?

QuestionLive chat · questioner not identifiedAnswered 16 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth Segment 24 of 57 in the recording2021-02-16-S24

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This segment1:17:25 to 1:21:32 · 4 min 07 sGeneral teaching

The answer in brief

machinesummary, machine-written

Mufti Abu Layth thinks ma is used because it qualifies how God is perceived, since the Meccans also worshipped Allah through others, though he says this is his own understanding.

In more detail

A super chat asks why 109:2-5 uses ma rather than man. After working out which surah is meant, Mufti Abu Layth says it is an interesting point whose balagha [?] aspect would need looking into, but that ma is absolutely accurate: 'you do not worship that which I worship'. He assumes the reason is that 'that which' specifies how the entity is understood: the Meccans did worship Allah, but through other deities, so here one qualifies not only God but how God is to be perceived. He says that is how he understands it, God knows best, and it may be his subjective understanding. He then answers a heckle asking whether anyone holds him accountable for always citing his videos with a joke.

Question as read aloud · questioner not identified
109:2 to 5: why is ma used and not man?

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Position stated

correctedChecked by two independent reviews, not by the channel

Mufti Abu Layth says that, as he assumes and understands it, God knowing best, ma in 109:2-5 qualifies not just God but how God is to be perceived.

In his words

“but i'm assuming that here you're kind of qualifying not just god but how god is to be perceived”

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Transcript

machine1:17:25 to 1:21:32 · click a time to seek · dotted terms open the glossary

what are you referring to what surah are you referring to you know you could just mention the name but why why make things easy you know i think i am a bit exhausted today i think that's what it is so i'm a bit out of it no so let's see 109 did you say suratul cafe run yeah

[Music] m is that the ma or are you talking about the the mars in general i don't know let's go with the ma generally speaking as in

you do not worship that which i worship why not men ah as in why don't we speak refer to allah i am to be fair that's an interesting point we'll have to look into the ballara aspect but ma is accurate here as well it's absolutely accurate you do not worship that which i worship so this is how you wouldn't translate this as what

that which i worship so if i said in english you do not worship that which i worship and if i said you do not worship who i worship you see i'm assuming that reason is because when we say that which we're more specifying how we understand that entity when i say who i worship even though that is is also valid in its meaning but they did accept allah you see it's not that they did not

worship allah they did but they worshipped him via worshipping these other so you see i assume that they would have responded that oh but we do worship allah but when you say that which i worship as in i'm understanding this i mean maybe some people would say that no to them it doesn't make a difference but i'm assuming that here you're kind of qualifying not just god but how god is to be perceived

that's how i understand it but allahu alam i could you know maybe that's just my subjective understanding of this but that's a good question see that's somebody really concerned about learning why do you call yourself what do you do [Laughter] this is real concern

says is anybody holding mufti accountable he always says he's done a video on a particular topic is anybody holding mufti accountable yeah your dad is [Laughter] why would why would you be holding me accountable [Laughter] right so

Paragraphs overlapping 1:17:25 to 1:21:32. Full text on the recording page.

Cite this segment

Stable id, transcript version and tier are part of the citation. Every change to a transcript is logged.

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment 2021-02-16-S24, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/--pntsar8ck/s/24/ (accessed 1 November 2026)

APA 7

Mufti Abu Layth. (2021, February 16). Why does Surah al-Kafirun say 'ma' (what) instead of 'man' (who) for God? [Video, segment 2021-02-16-S24, auto-transcribed, may contain errors]. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://muftiabulayth.org/r/--pntsar8ck/s/24/

Chicago author-date

Mufti Abu Layth. 2021. "Why does Surah al-Kafirun say 'ma' (what) instead of 'man' (who) for God?" Video, segment 2021-02-16-S24, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Recorded February 16, 2021. Accessed November 1, 2026. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/--pntsar8ck/s/24/

BibTeX

@misc{abulayth-2021-02-16-S24,
  author = {Mufti Abu Layth},
  title = {{Why does Surah al-Kafirun say 'ma' (what) instead of 'man' (who) for God?}},
  year = {2021},
  month = {2},
  date = {2021-02-16},
  howpublished = {\url{https://muftiabulayth.org/r/--pntsar8ck/s/24/}},
  url = {https://muftiabulayth.org/r/--pntsar8ck/s/24/},
  organization = {Mufti Abu Layth Archive},
  urldate = {2026-11-01},
  note = {Segment 2021-02-16-S24, auto-transcribed, may contain errors}
}

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