What does Kauthar mean

Hadhrat Abdullah bin Abbas (May Allah be well pleased with him) says:

 

Translation: It has been narrated on the authority of Hadhrat Sa‘eed Bin Jubair (May Allah be well pleased with him) who narrates on the authority of Hadhrat Abdullah bin Abbas:  He said about Kauthar that it is all that is good which Allah Ta’ala has granted to the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam).

 

Abu Bashar says that that I asked Hadhrat Sa‘eed Bin Jubair that people tell that it is a stream of Jannah.  Hadhrat Sa‘eed said:  That is also a part of that good which Allah Ta’ala has granted to the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam). 

 

All the outward and inward bounties come under Al-Kauthar

 

Hadhrat Allama Ismail Haqqi (Dec. 1137 Hijri, may Allah shower His mercy on him) writes in the exegesis of this verse of the Holy Quran:

 

Translation: What is more obvious is that all the bounties of Allah, be they outward or inward are included under Kauthar.  The outward bounties are all the bounties of this world and the hereafter and the inward bounties mean all those sciences and divine knowledge (Ilm Ladunniya) which cannot be acquired by any senses but only by the grace of Almighty Allah.  (Ruh Al Bayan, Vol. 10, Pg. No. 524)

 

What all Allah has granted to the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) is boundless

 

Even Shaykh Ibn Taimiya writes in the exegesis of this verse of the Holy Quran:

 

Translation: This verse of the Holy Quran attests to the fact that this Kauthar is a great grant from the boundless Lord and the Ultimate Benefactor.

 

Translation: Allah Ta’ala starts this verse with “Inna” which is used for emphasis and to stress what is being said.  It is being used in the past tense which shows certain corroboration that without any doubt this has come to pass and has happened.

 

Translation: In Al-Kauthar, the object of this abundance has not been specified so that it becomes a general superlative form.

 

What Allama Ibn Taimiya means is that if anything was specified with Kauthar, then it would have meant abundance in only that thing that Allah has granted so and so in abundance to the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam).  By not specifying anything, it is clear that whatever Allah Ta’ala has granted to the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) is limitlessly abundant.

 

Allama Ibn Taimiya has further explains:

 

Translation:  This verse of the Holy Quran shows us that Almighty Allah has granted all kinds of good (Khair in Arabic) in the most perfect and absolute form to the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) and whichever follower of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) received any share from that good, he/she got it only through the blessings of obeying and following the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) in particular.  (Tafseer Kabeer Li Ibn Taimiya, Vol. 7, Pg. No. 48)