Relationships with non-Muslims in Islamic Law: Difference between revisions

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The Quran and other Islamic sources prohibit certain degrees of relationship with disbelievers in certain circumstances, including with some of those from 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. Some contemporary views emphasize contextual issues and use particular verses and examples from Muhammad's life to argue that friendship with disbelievers is not forbidden in most circumstances.

Quran

A word common in many of these verses is awliyaa (plural of وَلِيٌّ waliyyun, from which we also have 'wali' - the male guardian of a female or orphan^[1]). It is often translated as guardians, friends and protectors, or allies. The phrase walīyu 'llāh (ولي الله), means 'friend of God'.^[1][2]

Prohibition on taking disbelievers as intimate friends or guardians / allies

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 3:113-114. This may be considered alongside verses 5:51, 5:57 and 5:82 quoted below.

A later verse in the same surah is more concilliatory regarding Christians, though not towards Jews and idolaters.

The next two verses give more specific proscriptions concerning relations with disbelievers who mock the religion or Muslims who do not take their religion seriously.

Muhammad softens his stance before the conquest of Mecca: Allah forbids only guardians / allies from those who made war on the believers for religion and drove them out

Abraham's people, whom he declared enemies in the above verse, did nothing besides idolatry according to the tafsirs. But it should be noted that a softening of this stance occurs a few verses later in the same surah. It says that Allah may put love / affection between the Muslims and those who had been their enemies, that they are permitted to show kindness and deal justly with them so long as they had not made war on the Muslims and had not helped drive them out. It is only those who did do such things that the believers should not take as guardians / allies (awliyaa).

The tafsirs say that verse 60:7 was uttered because the previous verses were hard for the Muslims, telling them to disown their own relatives in Mecca, even their children in verse Quran 60:3. Regarding verse 60:8, ibn Kathir cites Sahih Bukhari 8:73:9 that it was revealed after Asma' bint Abu Bakr rejected her idolatress mother when she tried to visit her in Medina. He says that 'A'isha asked Muhammad's opinion on this.^[5] Al-Tabari in his tafsir records disagreement as to whether the exemption applies only to believers who did not migrate from Mecca, or to polytheists who did not fight nor expel the believers. He also records one narration that the verse was abrogated by later commands to fight the disbelievers, while others disagreed.^[6]

Prohibition on taking disbelieving family members as guardians / allies; believers disassociate from them and do not love them if they are enemies of Allah

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.

(see also 60:4 above, where it says Abraham is a good example to follow).

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):

Hadiths

Only pious believers where Muhammad's friends

Muhammad used to visit a sick Jewish servant

Contemporary scholars often cite this hadith as an example of Muhammad showing friendship to a Jewish persion.

Umar kicked a Christian out of Medina

A man follows the religion of his friend

Only stay with believers

Whoever joins a polytheist is like him

Muhammad was sent to stop friendship

Scholars

Ibn Kathir

Ibn Taymiyah

Contemporary views

Some argue that friendship with non-Muslims is permitted in most situations today, appealing to verse 60:8 (see above) and certain aspects of Muhammad's life. His uncle Abu Talib was close to Muhammad and supported him throughout his life, despite remaining a polytheist. His uncle Abbas supported him in Mecca before his conversion to Islam. They also point to the non-Muslim Bedouin who Muhammad and Abu Bakr trusted to lead them through the desert when the Quraish plotted to kill Muhammad. In terms of the hadiths quoted above, it may be relevant that modernist muslim and academic scholars typically consider hadiths to often reflect later imperial circumstances.

See Also

• Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Friendship with Non-Muslims

References