Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {Indeed, We have granted you, [O Muhammad], Al-Kawthar} [Quran 108:1] With this noble verse, Allah The Almighty begins the one-hundred and eighteenth chapter of the Quran by informing His Messenger, , of a great favor, a noble gift and a promise in the Hereafter. With this favor, Allah dignified His Messenger, , and gave glad tidings to the Muslim nation. Following this great promise, Allah The Almighty ordered him to pray and promised him victory and support.
Al-Kawthar is the river that Allah The Almighty promised to grant His Prophet, , in Paradise. The Arabic word “Kawthar” originally means increase and augmentation, thus it refers to the perfect blessings Allah The Exalted has granted His Messenger, , in the worldly life and in the Hereafter.
The river Al-Kawthar has two waterspouts which pour water into Al-Hawdh (the Basin) of the Prophet, , on the Day of Resurrection. The river is inside Paradise, while the Basin of the Prophet, , is in the place where people will be gathered on the Day of Resurrection. As the water of the river pours into Al-Hawdh, the word Al-Kawthar sometimes refers to both the river and the Basin.
Many Prophetic Hadeeths describe the river Al-Kawthar in a way that makes a Muslim long to drink from it. This river runs by the Might of Allah The Almighty in no dug channels for containing its water. Its banks are arches of hollow pearls, its dust is musk and its pebbles are pearls. What does one think then of the beauty and grandeur of this river, and what does he think of the blessings that Allah The Almighty has bestowed on the Prophet, , and the believers from his nation?
The water of Al-Kawthar is not less marvelous than the river itself. In one of the authentic Hadeeths narrated about the river, the Prophet, , said: “The water of the Al-Kawthar river is whiter than milk and more fragrant than musk; and it contains birds whose necks are as long as those of camels.”Having heard these descriptions ‘Umar ibn Al-Khattaab, may Allah be pleased with him, said to the Prophet, , about these birds, “These are in bliss, O Messenger of Allah.”The Prophet, , answered:“Those who will eat them are in a greater bliss than them.”
This is an indication from the Prophet, , that such marvels and enormous blessings are only a small part of the blessings that Allah The Almighty will grant the people of Paradise.
The Prophet, , also said that whoever drinks from the water of the Al-Kawthar river will never again feel thirst, nor will his face darken ever. Try to imagine Paradise - which has rivers and waters like this!
As for Al-Hawdh that exists at the place where people will be gathered on the Day of Resurrection, it is square and each of its sides are a one-month walk long. The Prophet, , said: “My basin is as long as a one-month walking journey and its angles are equal.” It was also reported that the cups on the Basin are more numerous than the stars and planets of the sky.
The water of the Basin is derived from the river, thus the characteristics of both are identical, as an honor from Allah The Almighty to His Prophet, , and the believers from his nation, so that they may enjoy some of the bliss of Paradise even before they enter it, whilst still gathered in the land of Resurrection and suffering the throes of the Judgment Day, when the experience is extremely difficult and the heat is scorching.
The two waterspouts that connect the Al-Kawthar river in Paradise with the Basin of the Prophet, , are as important as the river and the Basin themselves. One of these two waterspouts is of gold and the other is of silver. Consequently, the water is of the best quality of goodness and pureness, its location is of the finest quality and its path and spout are of the best precious material.
The Hadeeths of the Prophet, , indicate that each prophet will have a basin in the land where people will be gathered on the Day of Resurrection, where people will suffer the throes of Judgment Day. It was authentically reported on the authority of Samurah ibn Jundub that the Prophet, , said: “Each prophet will have a basin for his nation to drink from, and they will boast about who has the larger number of drinkers, and I hope that I will be the one whose basin has the largest number of drinkers.”The mercy of Allah The Almighty in this situation will encompass the believers of every nation - every prophet will have a basin from which the believers of his nation will drink. However Al-Hawdh (the basin) of our Prophet, , is characterized by three additional merits:
1- Its water is derived from the Al-Kawthar river, and thus it is the best kind of water. There is no evidence that this will be the case with the basin of any other prophet, may Allah exalt the mention of all of them.
2- The basin of the Prophet, , will be the largest.
3- The basin of the Prophet, , will be the most frequented: it will have the largest number of drinkers from the believers of the Muslim nation compared to the number of the other basins of the prophets of other nations.
The first people to be honored by drinking from the Basin of the Prophet, , will be the poor Muslim Muhaajiroon (emigrants from Makkah to Madeenah). On the authority of Thawbaan, the slave of the Prophet, , the Messenger of Allah, , said: “The first people to drink from the Basin are the poor emigrants who had matted hair and dirty clothes, those who did not marry luxurious women and to whom the gates of the palaces of the rich were not open.”
They were the poorest people in this worldly life, the least in authority and the most ‘inferior’, despite their staunch faith and belief in Allah The Almighty and despite the greatness of their sacrifice in the cause of Allah. Therefore, they will be honored in the land where people are gathered on the Day of Resurrection by being the first to drink from Al-Hawdh of the Prophet, .
The Prophet, , realized the greatness of the favor of the Al-Kawthar river as soon as Soorat Al-Kawthar (chapter 108) was revealed to him. Anas ibn Maalik, may Allah be pleased with him, said,
One day, the Messenger of Allah was sitting amongst us and he dozed off. He then raised his head, smiling. We said, “What makes you smile, O Messenger of Allah?” He replied: “A Soorah has just been revealed to me, and then he recited [what means]: ‘In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful{Indeed, We have granted you, [O Muhammad], Al-Kawthar. So pray to your Lord and sacrifice [to Him alone]. Indeed, your enemy is the one cut off.}” [Quran 108:1-3]Then he asked: “Do you know what Al-Kawthar is?” We said, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” The Prophet replied: “It is a river which my Lord, the Exalted and Glorious, has promised me. It is a basin and my people will come to it on the Day of Resurrection, and the cups therein will be as many as the stars. A servant will be turned away from [among the people gathered there]. Upon this I will say: ‘My Lord, he is one of my followers!’ and He [the Lord] will say: ‘You do not know what new things he innovated [in Islam] after you died.’” [Muslim]
Therefore, the followers of the Prophet, , should rejoice, because they will drink from his Basin. They will be the winners when the disbelievers lose, and they will be near when the innovators and inventors in religion will be turned away.