25. The revelation of Sūrat al-Kawthar

1. Sirat Ibn Hisham 458No grade recorded

   [ سُئِلَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ عَنْ الْكَوْثَرِ مَا هُوَ ؟ فَأَجَابَ ] قَالَ ابْنُ إسْحَاقَ: حَدَّثَنِي جَعْفَرُ بْنُ عَمْرٍو - قَالَ ابْنُ هِشَامٍ: هُوَ جَعْفَرُ بْنُ عَمْرِو بْنِ أُمَيَّةَ الضَّمْرِيُّ - عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ مُسْلِمٍ أَخِي مُحَمَّدِ ( بْنِ مُسْلِمِ ) بْنِ شِهَابٍ الزُّهْرِيِّ، عَنْ أَنَسِ بْنِ مَالِكٍ، قَالَ: سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ﷺ، وَقِيلَ لَهُ: يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ، مَا الْكَوْثَرُ الَّذِي أَعْطَاكَ اللَّهُ ؟ قَالَ: نَهْرٌ كَمَا بَيْنَ صَنْعَاءَ إلَى أَيْلَةَ آنِيَتُهُ كَعَدَدِ نُجُومِ السَّمَاءِ تَرِدُهُ طُيُورٌ لَهَا أَعْنَاقٌ كَأَعْنَاقِ الْإِبِلِ قَالَ: يَقُولُ عُمَرُ بْنُ الْخَطَّابِ: إنَّهَا يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ لَنَاعِمَةٌ ؟ قَالَ: آكِلُهَا أَنْعَمُ مِنْهَا قَالَ ابْنُ إسْحَاقَ: وَقَدْ سَمِعْتُ فِي هَذَا الْحَدِيثِ أَوْ غَيْرِهِ أَنَّهُ قَالَ ﷺ: مَنْ شَرِبَ مِنْهُ لَا يَظْمَأُ أَبَدًا

   ✧ The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was asked about al-Kawthar, what it is, and he answered: Ibn Isḥāq said: Jaʿfar b. ʿAmr narrated to me — Ibn Hishām said: he is Jaʿfar b. ʿAmr b. Umayyah al-Ḍamrī — from ʿAbd Allāh b. Muslim, the brother of Muḥammad b. Muslim b. Shihāb al-Zuhrī, from Anas b. Mālik, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, when it was said to him: O Messenger of Allah, what is al-Kawthar that Allah has given you? He said: A river as wide as the distance between Ṣanʿāʾ and Aylah. Its vessels are as numerous as the stars of the sky. Birds with necks like the necks of camels come down to it. He said: ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb said: They are indeed plump, O Messenger of Allah? He said: Those who eat them are more blessed than they. Ibn Isḥāq said: I have heard in this ḥadīth or another that he ﷺ said: Whoever drinks from it will never thirst again.

2. Sirat Ibn Hisham 456No grade recorded

   نُزُولُ سُورَةِ الْكَوْثَرِ [ مَقَالَةُ الْعَاصِ فِي الرَّسُولِ وَنُزُولُ سُورَةِ الْكَوْثَرِ ] قَالَ ابْنُ إسْحَاقَ: وَكَانَ الْعَاصُ بْنُ وَائِلٍ السَّهْمِيُّ - فِيمَا بَلَغَنِي - إذَا ذُكِرَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ، قَالَ: دَعُوهُ، فَإِنَّمَا هُوَ رَجُلٌ أَبْتَرُ لَا عَقِبَ لَهُ، لَوْ مَاتَ لَانْقَطَعَ ذِكْرُهُ وَاسْتَرَحْتُمْ مِنْهُ، فَأَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ فِي ذَلِكَ: إِنَّا أَعْطَيْنَاكَ الْكَوْثَرَ مَا هُوَ خَيْرٌ لَكَ مِنْ الدُّنْيَا وَمَا فِيهَا. وَالْكَوْثَرُ: الْعَظِيمُ.

   ✧ The revelation of Sūrat al-Kawthar [The statement of al-ʿĀṣ regarding the Messenger and the revelation of Sūrat al-Kawthar] Ibn Isḥāq said: Al-ʿĀṣ b. Wāʾil al-Sahmī—as far as it has reached me—when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was mentioned, would say: Leave him, for he is only a man cut off (abtar), having no posterity. If he were to die, his mention would cease and you would find rest from him. So Allah revealed concerning that: “Indeed, We have granted you al-Kawthar” (Q 108:1)—that which is better for you than this world and all that is in it. And al-kawthar is the great good.

3. Sirat Ibn Hisham 457No grade recorded

   [ صَاحِبَا مَلْحُوبٍ وَالرِّدَاعِ ] قَالَ ابْنُ إسْحَاقَ: قَالَ لَبِيدُ بْنُ رَبِيعَةَ الْكِلَابِيُّ:: وَصَاحِبُ مَلْحُوبٍ فُجِعْنَا بِيَوْمِهِ وَعِنْدَ الرِّدَاعِ بَيْتُ آخِرَ كَوْثَرِ يَقُولُ: عَظِيمٌ. قَالَ ابْنُ هِشَامٍ: وَهَذَا الْبَيْتُ فِي قَصِيدَةٍ لَهُ. وَصَاحِبُ مَلْحُوبٍ: عَوْفُ بْنُ الْأَحْوَصِ بْنِ جَعْفَرِ بْنِ كِلَابٍ، مَاتَ بِمَلْحُوبِ. وَقَوْلُهُ: وَعِنْدَ الرِّدَاعِ بَيْتُ آخِرَ كَوْثَرِ: يَعْنِي شُرَيْحَ بْنَ الْأَحْوَصِ بْنِ جَعْفَرِ بْنِ كِلَابٍ، مَاتَ بِالرِّدَاعِ. وَكَوْثَرٌ: أَرَادَ: الْكَثِيرَ. وَلَفْظُهُ مُشْتَقٌّ مِنْ لَفْظِ الْكَثِيرِ. قَالَ الْكُمَيْتُ بْنُ زَيْدٍ يَمْدَحُ هِشَامَ بْنَ عَبْدِ الْمَلِكِ بْنِ مَرْوَانَ:: وَأَنْتَ كَثِيرٌ يَا بْنَ مَرْوَانَ طَيِّبٌ وَكَانَ أَبُوكَ ابْنُ الْعَقَائِلِ كَوْثَرَا وَهَذَا الْبَيْتُ فِي قَصِيدَةٍ لَهُ. وَقَالَ أُمَيَّةُ بْنُ أَبِي عَائِذٍ الْهُذَلِيُّ يَصِفُ حِمَارَ وَحْشٍ:: يُحَامِي الْحَقِيقَ إذَا مَا احْتَدَمْنَ وحَمْحَمْنَ فِي كَوْثَرٍ كَالْجِلَالْ يَعْنِي بِالْكَوْثَرِ: الْغُبَارَ الْكَثِيرَ، شَبَّهَهُ لِكَثْرَتِهِ عَلَيْهِ بِالْجِلَالِ. وَهَذَا الْبَيْتُ فِي قَصِيدَةٍ لَهُ

   ✧ [The two companions of Malḥūb and al-Ridāʿ] Ibn Isḥāq said: Labīd b. Rabīʿah al-Kilābī said: And the companion of Malḥūb — we were bereaved by his day, And at al-Ridāʿ is the house of another Kawthar. He means: a great one. Ibn Hishām said: This verse is in a qaṣīdah of his. The companion of Malḥūb is ʿAwf b. al-Aḥwaṣ b. Jaʿfar b. Kilāb; he died at Malḥūb. As for his saying, “And at al-Ridāʿ is the house of another Kawthar,” he means Shurayḥ b. al-Aḥwaṣ b. Jaʿfar b. Kilāb; he died at al-Ridāʿ. By “Kawthar” he means “the abundant one”; the word is derived from the word “al-kathīr” (the abundant). Al-Kumayt b. Zayd said, praising Hishām b. ʿAbd al-Malik b. Marwān: And you are abundant, O son of Marwān, and good, And your father, the son of noble women, was a Kawthar. And this verse is in a qaṣīdah of his. Umayyah b. Abī ʿĀʾidh al-Hudhalī said, describing a wild ass: He defends the mares when they grow fierce, And they whinnied in a Kawthar like the coverings. By “al-Kawthar” he means the abundant dust; he likened it, because of its abundance over him, to the coverings. And this verse is in a qaṣīdah of his.