Sūrah al-Kāfirūn

Observations on how Sūrah al-Kāfirūn is organized in the Quran

Sūrah al-Kāfirūn (The Disbelievers) is a sūrah that the Messenger Muhammad ﷺ would recite quite often. Many of us know it as one of the two suwar to be recited in the sunnah of Fajr prayer.

What’s beautiful about this sūrah is that it appears to be in a ring structure, with a couple of smaller rings making up the internals.

Part 1 - Overall Structure

The sūrah begins with an address to “disbelievers” (A), and it ends with the conclusion of that address; “you have your religion, and I have mine” (A’).

The center has two declarations, each of which begin with the Messenger ﷺ saying something about himself, followed by him saying something about the disbelievers.

Part 2 - Mini-Rings

The central section (B) can be further broken up into its own mini-ring structure.

In both of these mini-rings, the position of the Messenger ﷺ (“I…”) sandwiches the position of the disbelievers (“you all…”).

Part 3 - For the Grammar Nerds

It also appears that the sūrah is set up in a parallel structure when you consider the alternation between the negating and affirming segments of the āyāt:

Each statement begins with a negation (لا, lā) and concludes with an affirmation. And this repeats across the four declarations in the center rings.

واللّهُ أَعلَمُ - And Allah knows best

---

Sources

Personal reflections and research