Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Friendship with Non-Muslims: Difference between revisions

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The Qur'an is very explicit that the believers should not take infidels as friends and protectors. The [[hadith]] portrays Muhammad as being skeptical of inter-faith friendships, and the scholars are very vocal insisting that Muslims only engage with non-Muslims so far as is necessary for everyday life and to call them to Islam. Overall, the tradition encourages Muslims to keep to themselves and avoid entanglements with non-believers, be they atheist, polytheist, Christian or Jew.  
The Quran and other Islamic sources prohibit certain degrees of relationship with non-Muslims in certain circumstances, including with some from among the "People of the Book". Its stance appears to have evolved over time at various stages of Muhammad's prophetic career, occurring in a context when the believers had been driven out from Mecca and there was a degree of enmity between them, as recorded in such verses as Quran 60:1. Certain hadiths too portray Muhammad as being skeptical of inter-faith friendships. Some contemporary views emphasize contextual issues, the unreliability of hadiths which often reflect a later period, and use particular verses and examples from Muhammad's life to argue that friendship with non-Muslims is permitted in most circumstances.  


==Qur'an==
==Qur'an==
===Do not take non-Muslims as intimate friends or guardians / allies===
===Do not take disbelievers as intimate friends or guardians / allies===


A word common in many of these verses is awliyaa (plural of وَلِيٌّ [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume8/00000314.pdf waliyyun], from which we also have 'wali' - the male guardian of a female). It is often translated as friends and protectors, or allies.
A word common in many of these verses is awliyaa (plural of وَلِيٌّ [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume8/00000314.pdf waliyyun], from which we also have 'wali' - the male guardian of a female). It is often translated as friends and protectors, or allies.
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{{Quote|{{Quran|3|118}}|O ye who believe! Take not for intimates [[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume1/00000258.pdf bitanatan]] others than your own folk, who would spare no pains to ruin you; they love to hamper you. Hatred is revealed by (the utterance of) their mouths, but that which their breasts hide is greater. We have made plain for you the revelations if ye will understand.}}
{{Quote|{{Quran|3|118}}|O ye who believe! Take not for intimates [[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume1/00000258.pdf bitanatan]] others than your own folk, who would spare no pains to ruin you; they love to hamper you. Hatred is revealed by (the utterance of) their mouths, but that which their breasts hide is greater. We have made plain for you the revelations if ye will understand.}}
The prohibiton in the above verse does not apply to all people of the book, some of whom are contrasted with "those who disbelieve" in the preceding verses {{Quran-range|3|113|114}}. This may be considered alongside verses 5:51, 5:57 and 5:82 quoted below.


{{Quote|{{Quran|4|139}}|Those who chose disbelievers for their friends [awliyaa] instead of believers! Do they look for power at their hands? Lo! all power appertaineth to Allah.}}
{{Quote|{{Quran|4|139}}|Those who chose disbelievers for their friends [awliyaa] instead of believers! Do they look for power at their hands? Lo! all power appertaineth to Allah.}}
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{{Quote|{{Quran-range|60|7|9}}|It may be that Allah will ordain love [[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume8/00000185.pdf mawaddatan]] between you and those of them with whom ye are at enmity. Allah is Mighty, and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. Allah forbiddeth you not those who warred not against you on account of religion and drove you not out from your homes, that ye should show them kindness and deal justly with them. Lo! Allah loveth the just dealers. Allah forbiddeth you only those who warred against you on account of religion and have driven you out from your homes and helped to drive you out, that ye make friends of them [tawallawhum]. Whosoever maketh friends of them - (All) such are wrong-doers.}}
{{Quote|{{Quran-range|60|7|9}}|It may be that Allah will ordain love [[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume8/00000185.pdf mawaddatan]] between you and those of them with whom ye are at enmity. Allah is Mighty, and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. Allah forbiddeth you not those who warred not against you on account of religion and drove you not out from your homes, that ye should show them kindness and deal justly with them. Lo! Allah loveth the just dealers. Allah forbiddeth you only those who warred against you on account of religion and have driven you out from your homes and helped to drive you out, that ye make friends of them [tawallawhum]. Whosoever maketh friends of them - (All) such are wrong-doers.}}


===Do not take your non-Muslim family members as guardians / allies, and disassociate from them and do not love them if they are enemies of Allah===
===Do not take your disbelieving family members as guardians / allies, and disassociate from them and do not love them if they are enemies of Allah===
 
Surah 9 (at-Tawbah) came later chronologically than surah 60 in the section above, after the conquest of Mecca. By this time it seems Muhammad had hardened his stance again. Now we see that even family can't be a Muslim's awliya if they love disbelief more than faith, and a Muslim is not allowed even to have love for them if they oppose Allah and Muhammad. Presumably love is allowed if they don't oppose Allah and Muhammad, though it seems that a Muslim still can't take them as awliya either way if they are disbelievers.


{{Quote|{{Quran|9|23}}|O ye who believe! take not for protectors [yatawallahum] your fathers and your brothers if they love infidelity [kufra] above Faith: if any of you do so, they do wrong.}}
Surah 9 (at-Tawbah) came later chronologically than surah 60 quoted in the section above, after the conquest of Mecca. Here, even family could not be a Muslim's awliya if they love disbelief more than faith, though in context and according to some commentaries this may concern those who had refused to emigrate. Believers were not allowed even to have love for their relatives if they opposed Allah and Muhammad. Presumably, these restrictions did not apply otherwise.


{{Quote|{{Quran|9|24}}|Say: If it be that your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your mates, or your kindred; the wealth that ye have gained; the commerce in which ye fear a decline: or the dwellings in which ye delight - are dearer [ahabba] to you than Allah, or His Messenger, or the striving in His cause;- then wait until Allah brings about His decision: and Allah guides not the rebellious.}}
{{Quote|{{Quran-range|9|23|24}}|O ye who believe! take not for protectors [yatawallahum] your fathers and your brothers if they love infidelity [kufra] above Faith: if any of you do so, they do wrong. Say: If it be that your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your mates, or your kindred; the wealth that ye have gained; the commerce in which ye fear a decline: or the dwellings in which ye delight - are dearer [ahabba] to you than Allah, or His Messenger, or the striving in His cause;- then wait until Allah brings about His decision: and Allah guides not the rebellious.}}


{{Quote|{{Quran|9|113}}|It is not for the Prophet, and those who believe, to pray for the forgiveness of idolaters even though they may be near of kin (to them) after it hath become clear that they are people of hell-fire.}}
{{Quote|{{Quran|9|113}}|It is not for the Prophet, and those who believe, to pray for the forgiveness of idolaters even though they may be near of kin (to them) after it hath become clear that they are people of hell-fire.}}
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{{Quote|{{Quran|58|22}}|Thou wilt not find folk who believe in Allah and the Last Day loving [[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume8/00000185.pdf yuwaddoona]] those who oppose Allah and His messenger, even though they be their fathers or their sons or their brethren or their clan. As for such, He hath written faith upon their hearts and hath strengthened them with a Spirit from Him, and He will bring them into Gardens underneath which rivers flow, wherein they will abide. Allah is well pleased with them, and they are well pleased with Him. They are Allah's party. Lo! is it not Allah's party who are the successful?}}
{{Quote|{{Quran|58|22}}|Thou wilt not find folk who believe in Allah and the Last Day loving [[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume8/00000185.pdf yuwaddoona]] those who oppose Allah and His messenger, even though they be their fathers or their sons or their brethren or their clan. As for such, He hath written faith upon their hearts and hath strengthened them with a Spirit from Him, and He will bring them into Gardens underneath which rivers flow, wherein they will abide. Allah is well pleased with them, and they are well pleased with Him. They are Allah's party. Lo! is it not Allah's party who are the successful?}}
An earlier (Meccan) surah tells believers to accompany their disbelieving parents with kindness / fairness in this world, even if they seek to make the believer commit shirk (which should be disobeyed):
{{Quote|{{Quran-range|31|14|15}}|And We have enjoined upon man [care] for his parents. His mother carried him, [increasing her] in weakness upon weakness, and his weaning is in two years. Be grateful to Me and to your parents; to Me is the [final] destination. But if they endeavor to make you associate with Me that of which you have no knowledge, do not obey them but accompany them in [this] world with appropriate kindness and follow the way of those who turn back to Me [in repentance]. Then to Me will be your return, and I will inform you about what you used to do.}}


==Hadith==
==Hadith==
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==Sirah==
===Muhammad was sent to stop friendship with Jews===
===Muhammad was sent to stop friendship with Jews===


{{Quote|Ibn Ishaq p.262|Some Muslims remained friends with the Jews, so Allah sent down a Qur'an forbidding them to take Jews as friends. From their mouths hatred has already shown itself and what they conceal is worse}}
{{Quote|{{citation|title=The Life of Muhammad|trans_title=Sirat Rasul Allah|ISBN=0-19-636033-1|year=1955|publisher=Oxford UP|author1=Ibn Ishaq (d. 768)|author2=Ibn Hisham (d. 833)|editor=A. Guillaume|url=https://archive.org/details/GuillaumeATheLifeOfMuhammad/page/n1/mode/2up|page=262-263}}<BR>{{citation|title=سيرة ابن هشام ت السقا|author1=ابن إسحاق|author2=ابن هشام|url=https://app.turath.io/book/23833|publisher=al-Maktabah al-Shamilah|publisher=al-Maktabah al-Shamilah|volume=vol.1 |page=558}}
|Some Muslims remained friends with the Jews because of the ties of mutual protection and alliance which had subsisted between them, so God sent down concerning them and forbidding them to take them as intimate friends: 'O you who believe, do not choose those outside your community as intimate friends. They will spare no pains to corrupt you longing for your ruin. From their mouths hatred has already shown itself and what their breasts conceal is greater. We have made the signs plain to you if you will understand. Behold you love them but they love not you and you believe in the book--all of it, i.e. you believe in their book and in the books that were before that while they deny your book, so that you have more right to hate them than they to hate you. 'And when they meet you they say, we believe and when they go apart they bite their fingers against you in rage. Say, Die in your rage'}}


==Scholars==
==Scholars==
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==See Also==
==See Also==
*[[Relationships with non-Muslims in Islamic Law]]


==References==
==References==
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[[Category:Kafir (infidel)]]
[[Category:Kafir (infidel)]]
[[Category:People of the Book]]
[[Category:People of the Book]]
[[ar:القرآن_والحديث_والعلماء:_صداقة_مع_غير_المسلمين]]
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