Surah Al-Kawthar: Meaning, Translation and Transliteration

Surah Al-Kawthar is the shortest surah in the Quran: three verses, ten words in Arabic. It was revealed to comfort the Prophet ﷺ when his enemies mocked him as "cut off", a man with no sons to carry on his name. Allah's answer was that He had given him al-Kawthar, an abundance of good, and that it was his mocker who would be cut off.

This article gives the full surah in Arabic, a transliteration and the English translation, then goes through its meaning verse by verse.

The full surah

إِنَّآ أَعۡطَيۡنَٰكَ ٱلۡكَوۡثَرَ فَصَلِّ لِرَبِّكَ وَٱنۡحَرۡ إِنَّ شَانِئَكَ هُوَ ٱلۡأَبۡتَرُ

Transliteration

1. Innā aʿṭaynākal-kawthar
2. Fa-ṣalli li-rabbika wanḥar
3. Inna shāniʾaka huwal-abtar

English translation (Saheeh International)

Indeed, We have granted you, [O Muḥammad], al-Kawthar. So pray to your Lord and offer sacrifice [to Him alone]. Indeed, your enemy is the one cut off. (108:1-3)

If you learned to read the Quran in the IndoPak script, here is the same surah as it appears in a South Asian mushaf:

اِنَّاۤ اَعۡطَيۡنٰكَ الۡكَوۡثَرَؕ فَصَلِّ لِرَبِّكَ وَانۡحَرۡ ؕ اِنَّ شَانِئَكَ هُوَ الۡاَبۡتَرُ

You can read and listen to Surah Al-Kawthar with its translation, or read it with the Urdu translation.

About the surah

Al-Kawthar is the 108th surah of the Quran, with 3 verses, in the 30th juz. Its name comes from the first verse. You'll also see it spelled Kauthar or Kausar, and many people know it by its first words, Innā aʿṭaynāk.

Most scholars count it as Meccan. Others count it as Medinan, because Anas ibn Malik, who lived in Madinah, described being with the Prophet ﷺ when it was revealed.

That report is in Sahih Muslim. Anas said the Prophet ﷺ was sitting with them when he dozed off, then raised his head smiling. They asked why he was smiling, and he said: "A surah has just been revealed to me," and recited Bismillāhir-raḥmānir-raḥīm, Innā aʿṭaynākal-kawthar to the end (Sahih Muslim 400). Because he recited the Bismillah as part of it, this hadith comes up in the discussion of whether the Bismillah is a verse of each surah (see the Al-Fatiha article).

Why it was revealed. The Prophet's ﷺ sons all died in childhood. In Arab culture a man's name lived on through his sons, and some of the leaders of Quraysh mocked him as abtar, "cut off". The tafsir books name al-ʿAs ibn Waʾil among them, saying something like: "Leave him; he is a man cut off with no descendants. When he dies, he will be forgotten."

Verse 1: We have given you al-Kawthar

إِنَّآ أَعۡطَيۡنَٰكَ ٱلۡكَوۡثَرَ

Indeed, We have granted you, [O Muḥammad], al-Kawthar. (108:1)

Kawthar comes from kathrah, "a great amount", in a form that means a very great amount: overflowing abundance. The verse says aʿṭaynāka, "We have given you", in the past tense, as if it were already done.

The Prophet ﷺ himself explained what it is. In the same hadith, after reciting the surah, he asked: "Do you know what al-Kawthar is?" They said Allah and His Messenger know best. He said: "It is a river my Lord has promised me, with much good in it. It is a pond (ḥawḍ) that my ummah will come to on the Day of Resurrection, and its drinking vessels are as many as the stars" (Sahih Muslim 400).

On the Night Journey he saw it: "I came to a river whose banks were domes of hollow pearls. I asked Jibril what it was, and he said: This is al-Kawthar" (Sahih al-Bukhari 4964). ʿAʾishah described it the same way (Sahih al-Bukhari 4965).

Ibn ʿAbbas gave a wider meaning: al-Kawthar is all the good Allah gave His Prophet ﷺ. When someone told Saʿid ibn Jubayr that people say it is a river in Paradise, he answered: "The river in Paradise is part of the good that Allah gave him" (Sahih al-Bukhari 4966). The two explanations fit together: prophethood, the Quran, his followers, his raised name and the river are all part of that abundance.

The pond on the Day of Judgement

The Prophet ﷺ described his pond: "My pond is a month's journey across. Its water is whiter than milk, its smell is better than musk, and its cups are like the stars of the sky. Whoever drinks from it will never be thirsty again" (Sahih al-Bukhari 6579).

He also gave a warning. Some people will come to the pond and be turned away. He will say, "My companions!" and he will be told: "You do not know what they introduced into the religion after you" (Sahih al-Bukhari 6582). The way to the pond is to hold on to what he taught.

Verse 2: So pray to your Lord and sacrifice

فَصَلِّ لِرَبِّكَ وَٱنۡحَرۡ

So pray to your Lord and offer sacrifice [to Him alone]. (108:2)

The response to so great a gift is gratitude shown in worship: pray, and sacrifice. Li-rabbika, "for your Lord", is the point. The idolaters of Makkah prayed and slaughtered animals for their idols; the Prophet ﷺ is told to do both for Allah alone, as another verse puts it:

Say, "Indeed, my prayer, my rites of sacrifice, my living and my dying are for Allāh, Lord of the worlds." (6:162)

Wanḥar comes from naḥr, slaughtering a camel. Many commentators connect the verse with Eid al-Adha, where the prayer comes first and the sacrifice after. The Prophet ﷺ said on that day: "The first thing we do on this day of ours is pray, then return and sacrifice. Whoever does that has followed our sunnah" (Sahih al-Bukhari 5545). He sacrificed two rams with his own hands, saying Allah's name and Allāhu akbar (Sahih al-Bukhari 5558).

You may also hear that wanḥar means placing the right hand on the chest in prayer. That explanation is reported, but most commentators reject its chains and take the plain meaning of sacrifice.

Verse 3: Your enemy is the one cut off

إِنَّ شَانِئَكَ هُوَ ٱلۡأَبۡتَرُ

Indeed, your enemy is the one cut off. (108:3)

Shāniʾ is someone who hates you bitterly. Abtar was used for an animal whose tail has been cut off, and then for anyone cut off from good, from family or from being remembered. The verse turns the insult back: he is the one cut off.

History proved it. The Prophet's ﷺ name is said in every call to prayer around the world (see Surah Ash-Sharh, "And We raised high for you your repute"), his family continued through his daughter Fatimah, and more than a billion people follow him. The men who mocked him are remembered, if at all, only for having mocked him.

Word by word

Arabic	Transliteration	Meaning
إِنَّآ	innā	indeed We
أَعۡطَيۡنَٰكَ	aʿṭaynāka	have given you
ٱلۡكَوۡثَرَ	al-kawthar	al-Kawthar (abundant good)
فَصَلِّ	fa-ṣalli	so pray
لِرَبِّكَ	li-rabbika	to your Lord
وَٱنۡحَرۡ	wanḥar	and sacrifice
إِنَّ	inna	indeed
شَانِئَكَ	shāniʾaka	the one who hates you
هُوَ	huwa	he is
ٱلۡأَبۡتَرُ	al-abtar	the one cut off

Living by Surah Al-Kawthar

• Answer blessings with worship. The surah's first command after "We have given you" is "so pray".
• Make your worship for Allah alone. Prayer, sacrifice, charity: li-rabbika, for your Lord.
• Sacrifice at Eid al-Adha if you can, after the Eid prayer, following the Prophet's ﷺ sunnah.
• Don't let mockery define you. Allah answered the insult; the Prophet ﷺ didn't need to.
• Hold on to the sunnah. It is the way to drink from his pond, and the warning about people turned away is about those who changed the religion.
• Learn it with your children. At three verses, it is one of the easiest surahs to memorise.

Open Surah Al-Kawthar to read and listen to it with its translation.