Jason Hamaan
The Quran does not restrict Muslims from befriending non-muslims. All those Aayahs in the Quran that appears to command otherwise, must be analysed as per the proper context.
O, believers! Take neither Jews nor Christians as guardians—they are guardians of each other. Whoever does so, will be counted as one of them. Surely Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people. [Quran 5:51]
At first glance, Aayah 5:51 appears to prohibit friendships with Jews and Christian, but before we understand this Aayah, let us see what the Quran says about the friendship between Non-muslims and Muslims.
The believers must not take the disbelievers as friends rather than believers. And whoever does that has no (protection) from Allah in any matter, except that you should totally keep away from them. [Quran 3:28]
Do those who take the disbelievers for friends rather than the believers, seeking honour from them? But, indeed, all honour belongs to Allah [Quran 4:139]
And He has revealed to you in the Book that when you hear the verses of Allah being disbelieved and ridiculed, you should not sit with them unless they enter into some other discourse…[Quran 4:140]
O’ you who believe, take not for intimate friends others than your own people. They spare no effort to cause you loss. They love that which distresses you. Malice has come out of their mouths while what is concealed in their hearts is still worse. We have made the signs clear to you, if only you understand. [Quran 3:118]
Look, you are the ones who love them and they do not love you. You believe in all the books; (On the other hand,) when they meet you, they say, “We believe”, and when they are alone, they bite their finger-tips out of rage against you. Say, “May you perish in your rage.” Surely, Allah is All-Aware of what lies in the hearts. [Quran 3:119]
When we take all the above Aayahs into consideration and have a closer look at them, we get to know that we are not restricted from befriending the non-muslims, instead, we are given some principle and guidelines in the Quran which compel and guide us to use our wisdom and knowledge in different circumstances to manage our actions accordingly.
Let’s understand all the above-mentioned Aayahs:
Aayah 4: 139-140, commands Muslims to not exclude/leave the believers (from befriending) while befriending only the disbelievers (the people who refuse to believe). At the same time, in these Aayahs, it is also instructed to leave a place where Aayahs of Allah are rejected, disrespected, insulted and mocked; it is also commanded not to sit with those people who do that. However, it also suggests that when such a conversation/discussion ends or someone else starts talking, then, one can sit with them. So, this indicates to us that the Qur’an does not completely forbid us from making friends with non-Muslims, but simply says that we should keep ourselves away from a place where the Aayahs of Allah are mocked and from people who do that.
Aayah 3: 118-119, means that going away from our own people and making intimate bonds with others by compromising against the interests of the believers and telling others the secrets that could be used against them (the believers), shall be strictly avoided. And here, the word ‘others’ is not used for Kafirs or non-Muslims, but it is a general instruction. Further, it is told that these are those people whose malice is expressed from their mouth. Thus, it can be inferred that we should not tell our deep secrets to those people whose words or nature express to us that they are against us or our loved ones, so that they may not use them
Thus, from the commands in Aayah 3:28, 4: 139 and 3: 118, it can be understood that we should not make them (disbelievers) friends or confidante by excluding and leaving the believers. These Aayahs only show that the Qur’an doesn’t forbid us completely from befriending non-Muslims, but rather, it says that leaving believers, going against their benefits or shaking hands with people who are conspiring against them (the believers) is prohibited. They only mean that beside befriending non-Muslims and wishing good for them, one should also keep friendship with the people of faith, behave well with them, take care of their interest and befriend them too. Thus, the Quran doesn’t stop us from befriending non-Muslims, rather, it is guiding us that we should not compromise our relations with the believers in doing so.
Thus, the Aayah 5:51, which states that do not befriend Jews and Christians, is just a brief command which must be understood in the light of other Aayahs of the Qur’an, which are discussed above.
Now, in the end, we will discuss the most important Aayahs of the Qur’an regarding the relationship and friendship with the non-Muslims. All the other Aayahs that we have gone through on this subject will be considered/understood under these two Aayahs:
Allah does not forbid you from those who do not fight you because of religion and do not expel you from your homes - from being righteous toward them and acting justly toward them. Indeed, Allah loves those who act justly. [Quran 60:8]
Allah only forbids you from those who fight you because of religion and expel you from your homes and aid in your expulsion - [forbids] that you make allies of them. And whoever makes allies of them, then it is those who are the wrongdoers. [Quran 60:9]
It is clear from these Aayahs that the Qur’an does not prevent us from befriending non-Muslims (Jews, Christians, polytheists etc.), unless they fight with us based on religion, expel us from our homes because we talk about Islam. The Qur’an in fact, commands us to deal with them with justice.
