Why One Must Not Befriend the Jews and Christians

 Calls from the Most Merciful

 

Text: al-Jazairi, Jabir. Calls from the Most Merciful. Karachi: Darul-Ishaat, 2003.

 

34th Call[1]

Why One Must Not Befriend the Jews and Christians

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَتَّخِذُوا الْيَهُودَ وَالنَّصَارَىٰ أَوْلِيَاءَ ۘ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِيَاءُ بَعْضٍ ۚ وَمَن يَتَوَلَّهُم مِّنكُمْ فَإِنَّهُ مِنْهُمْ ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الظَّالِمِينَ

O you who believe! Do not take friends from the Jews and the Christians, as they are but friends of each other. And if any among you befriends them, then surely, he is one of them. Verily, Allah guides not those people who are the wrongdoers.

Surah al-Maida 5:51

 

Notes

o   According to Asad,[2] Qutb[3] and Nasr[4] this verse is not general, it is specific; although al-Jazairi,[5] Ibn Kathir,[6] Abdullah Yusuf Ali[7] and as-Sa’di[8] disagree. It is specific in terms of political and military alliances, it is not general that it prohibits being friendly to non-Muslim neighbours, colleagues and family members.

o   Moreover, this is demonstrated by the fact that Muslims are permitted to eat the meat of the Jews and Christians, and to marry Jewish and Christian women.[9]

o   Furthermore, The Study Quran states, “The verse should not be interpreted as forbidding friendly relations with Jews and Christians on a purely personal level,”[10] since more intimate relations like marriage is permitted with them.[11]

o   Asad affirms that “this prohibition of a ‘moral alliance’ with non-Muslims does not constitute an injunction against normal, friendly relations with such of them as are well-disposed towards Muslims.”[12]

o   The Study Quran explains the reasons of revelation: that some Muslims sought Jewish allies when they thought it would benefit them, like those who had pre-Islamic agreements with Jews,[13] while others who did so after the defeat at the Battle of Uhud.[14] While Qutb uses historical reports to highlight reasons for the prohibition from a sirah perspective.[15]

o   According to Usmani, the pathetic state the ummah today is because of Muslims ignoring this verse: as they have adopted Western institutions, lifestyles, and ideologies.[16] Thus, by ignoring this verse Muslims have strayed away from Qur’anic laws and institutions, leading to their weak and lamentable state.

o   Usmani also asserts that those who make non-Muslims their allies and friends to the extent that they adopt their ways contrary to what Islam says – are hypocrites.[17]

o   Qutb contends that Allah has “laid down this general principle, regardless of the particular circumstances pertaining at the time of the Qur’anic revelations or any other particular circumstances which may exist at any time in history.”[18]

o   He further states that “Islam requires every Muslim to establish ties with all people on the basis of faith. Hence, alliance and patronage cannot exist between a Muslim and a non-Muslim, since they cannot be allies in faith.”[19]

o   Conversely, the Constitution of Madina states: “A man will not be made liable for the misdeeds of his ally,”[20] this is prior to the above verse’s revelation.

 

Bonus: Can Muslims Say Salam to non-Muslims?

 

o   Narrated Aisha: “A group of Jews asked permission to visit the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, (and when they were admitted) they said, ‘As- Samu Alaika (Death be upon you).’ I said (to them), ‘But death and the curse of Allah be upon you!’ The Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, said, ‘O Aisha! Allah is kind and lenient and likes that one should be kind and lenient in all matters.’ I said, ‘Haven't you heard what they said?’ He replied, ‘I said (to them), Wa Alaikum (And upon you).’”[21]

 

Most people think that they cannot give salam to or reply to the salam of non-Muslims. This is not true. If we examine the above hadith where the Jews said, “Death be upon you,” to the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, instead of “Peace be upon you,” as they sound the same in Arabic - it becomes abundantly clear that the Jews wanted to humiliate the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam. Their devious plan would only work if they knew that the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, said salam to Jews. Thus, saying salam to non-Muslims is not against the Sunnah, in fact the Hadiths illustrate it is the Sunnah. This is also confirmed by another hadith in Sahih Muslim where the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, said, “When the Jews offer you salam, some of them say, “Death be upon you.” You should respond by saying, “Let it be upon you.”[22]This hadith indicates clearly that we are to say, “Let it be upon you” only to those who say, “Death be upon you.” Therefore, those Jews who say the salam correctly, we are to respond in the same manner to them.

 

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[1] Jabir al-Jazairi, Calls from the Most Merciful (Karachi: Darul-Ishaat, 2003), 227-230.

 

[2] Muhammad Asad, The Message of the Qur’an (Gibraltar: Dar Al-Andalus, 1980), 155, fn. 73.

 

[3] Sayyid Qutb, In the Shade of the Qur’an, trans. Adil Salahi & Ashur Shamis (Leicester: The Islamic Foundation, 2001), 4:142-143 & 148.

 

[4] Seyyed Hossein Nasr, ed., The Study Quran: A New Translation and Commentary (New York: HarperOne, 2015), 302-303.

 

[5] al-Jazairi, Calls from the Most Merciful, 227-230.

 

[6] Abu al-Fida Ismail ibn Kathir, Tafsir Ibn Kathir Abridged, abr. Safiur-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri, 2nd ed. (Riyadh: Maktaba Dar-us-Salam, 2003), 3:204.

 

[7] Abdullah Yusuf Ali, The Holy Qur’an: Text, Translation and Commentary, New rev. ed. (Brentwood: Amana Corporation, 1989), 265, fn. 764.

 

[8] Abdur-Rahman Nasir as-Sa’di, Tafseer as-Sa’di, trans. Nasiruddin al-Khattab, ed. Huda Khattab (Riyadh: International Islamic Publishing House, 2018), 2:418-419.

 

[9] Surah al-Maida 5:5; Nasr, The Study Quran, 303.

 

[10] Nasr, The Study Quran, 303. See also Shabbir Ahmad Usmani, The Noble Qur’an: Tafseer-e-Usmani, trans. Mohammad Ashfaq Ahmad (New Delhi: Islamic Book Services, 1999), 1:490, fn. 84.

 

[11] Ibid.

 

[12] Asad, The Message of the Qur’an, 155, fn. 73.

 

[13] Nasr, The Study Quran, 303; Qutb, In the Shade of the Qur’an, 4:142-143 & 148.

 

[14] Nasr, The Study Quran, 303.

 

[15] Qutb, In the Shade of the Qur’an, 4:148-149.

 

[16] Usmani, Tafseer-e-Usmani, 1:490, fn. 84.

 

[17] Ibid., 1:491, fn. 87.

 

[18] Qutb, In the Shade of the Qur’an, 4:150-151.

[19] Ibid., 4:151.

 

[20] Full Text of the Medina Charter, art. 41, https://constitution.org/1-Constitution/cons/medina/macharter.htm

 

[21] Sahih Bukhari, nos. 2935, 6024, 6030, 6256, 6395, 6401, 6927, 6928.

 

[22] Sahih Muslim, no. 2164a.