60:1. O you who believe, do not take My enemies and yours as allies, offering them friendship - even though they have rejected the truth that has come to you, and have driven out the Messenger and yourselves simply because you believe in Allah your Lord - if you have come out to strive in My cause and seek My good pleasure. How can you offer them friendship in secret when I know full well all that you conceal and all that you disclose? Whoever among you does that has strayed from the right path.

60:2. If they found any opportunity, they would show themselves to be your enemies and would harm you physically and verbally; and they wish that you would disbelieve.

60:3. Neither your relatives nor your children will benefit you on the Day of Resurrection; He will separate you [on that day]. And Allah sees well all that you do.

60:4. Verily you have a good example in Ibraheem and those who were with him, when they said to their people: Verily we disown you and whatever you worship besides Allah. We renounce you, and there has arisen between us and you enmity and hatred forever, until you believe in Allah alone. But [do not emulate] the words of Ibraheem to his father: I will surely pray for forgiveness for you, but I have no power to protect you from [the punishment of] Allah. [Ibraheem and his followers prayed:] Our Lord, in You we put our trust and to You we turn, and to You is the return [of all].

60:5. Our Lord, do not make us subject to the persecution of the disbelievers; and forgive us, our Lord. Verily You are the Almighty, the Most Wise.

60:6. Verily in them [Ibraheem and his followers] you have a good example, for those who look with hope to Allah and the Last Day. And whoever turns away, verily Allah is Self-Sufficient, Worthy of all praise.

60:7. It may be that Allah will bring about friendship between you and those of them whom you [currently] consider enemies. For Allah has power [over all things], and Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

60:8. Allah does not forbid you to deal kindly and justly with those who do not fight you because of your religion or drive you out of your homes, for verily Allah loves those who are just.

60:9. Allah only forbids you to take as allies those who fight you because of your religion, drive you out of your homes or help others in driving you out; whoever takes them as al lies, it is they who are the wrongdoers.

Many of the commentators (may Allah have mercy on them) have stated that the reason for the revelation of these verses is the story of Hatib ibn Abi Balta‘ah, when the Prophet (ﷺ) was making preparations for the conquest of Makkah.

Hafib wrote a letter to Quraysh, informing them that the Prophet (ﷺ) was going to head towards Makkah, so that they would owe him a favour, not because of any doubt or hypocrisy on his part. And he sent that letter with a woman.

The Prophet was told about what he had done, so he sent people to catch up with that woman before she reached Makkah and take the letter from her. He rebuked Hatib who apologised, and the Prophet (ﷺ) accepted his apology.

These verses contain a stern prohibition against taking the disbelievers, polytheists and others, as allies and showing friendship towards them, and it tells us that doing so is contrary to faith and is contrary to the way of Ibraheem al-Khaleel (‘alavhi as-salam - peace be upon him); it is also contrary to reason which dictates that one should be extremely cautious with the enemy, who would spare no effort and miss no opportunity to cause harm.

you who believe﴿, act upon what is dictated by your faith, which is to take as friends those who have faith and act in accordance with it, and to take as enemies those who oppose faith, for such people are the enemies of Allah and of the believers.

So do not take the enemies of Allah and your enemy ﴾-(as allies, offering them friendship﴿ that is, hastening to show friendship towards them and to strengthen the bonds of friendship with them, for once friendship is formed, it will be followed by support and taking the friend as an ally. This puts a person beyond the pale of faith, and he will become one of the disbelievers; he will no longer be part of the community of faith. Moreover, the one who takes a disbeliever as a friend is also lacking in dignity; how could he take as an ally the worst of his enemies, who intends nothing but ill towards him, and go against the teachings of his Lord and true ally. Who intends good for him, enjoins him to do good and urges him to do it? Another fact that calls the believer to regard the disbelievers as enemies is that they have rejected that which has come to the believers of truth, and there is nothing greater than this difference and opposition, for they have rejected your religion altogether, and they claim that you are misguided and have strayed from the true path.

In fact it is they who have disbelieved in the truth concerning which there is no doubt, and if anyone rejects the truth, it is impossible for him to have any evidence or proof to support his views. Rather, once one comes to know the truth, it is easy to see the falseness and corruption of the views of the one who rejects it.

Because of their profound enmity, they ﴾have driven out the Messenger and yourselves﴿, O believers, from your homes, and have expelled you from your land.

The only thing you did wrong - in their view - is that you believe in Allah, your Lord, Who has enjoined upon all people to worship Him, because He cares for them and has bestowed upon them blessings both visible and invisible; He is Allah Ofe).

Because they turned away from this command, which is the most obligatory of duties, whereas you followed it, they opposed you and expelled you from your homes because of that.

So what religion, and what dignity and reason, can there be left in a person if he takes as allies the disbelievers who are like that in every time and place? And nothing is preventing them from harming him except fear or a strong deterrent.

﴾if you have come out to strive in My cause and seek My good pleasure﴿ that is, if the intention behind your coming out is to strive in jihad in Allah’s cause, to make the word of Allah supreme, and seeking the pleasure of Allah. In that case you should strive to comply with the principle of taking as friends and allies the close friends of Allah and opposing His enemies, for that is jihad in His cause, and it is one of the greatest means of drawing close to one’s Lord, seeking thereby His pleasure.

﴾How can you offer them friendship in secret when I know full well all that you conceal and all that you disclose?﴿ In other words: how can you show friendship to these disbelievers in secret and conceal it, when you know that Allah knows what you conceal and what you disclose? Even if it is hidden from the believers, it cannot be hidden from Allah (سبحانه وتعالى), and He will requite people for what he knows of them, both good and evil.

﴾Whoever among you does that﴿ namely taking the disbelievers as allies after Allah has warned against that.﴾has strayed from the right path﴿ because he has followed the path that is contrary to Islamic teaching, reason and human dignity.

Then Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) explains the extent of their enmity, so as to urge the believers to regard them as enemies:

﴾lf they found any opportunity﴿ to catch you out or to harm you, ﴾they would show themselves to be your enemies﴿ quite openly ﴾and would harm you physically﴿ by killing you, striking you and so on

﴾)and verbally﴿ by saying hurtful words.

﴾and they wish that you would disbelieve﴿. This is their ultimate aim and is all they want from you.

If you argue and say: We only take the disbelievers as friends because of ties of kinship or financial interests, you should understand that your wealth and children will not avail you in the slightest before Allah,

﴾And Allah sees well all that you do﴿ hence He warns you against taking as friends the disbelievers whose friendship is harmful to you.

O believers, ﴾you have a good example﴿ which will be of benefit to you

﴾in Ibraheem and those who were with him﴿ of the believers, because you have been commanded to follow the religion of Ibraheem, the monotheist.

﴾when they said to their people: Verily we disown you and whatever you worship besides Allah﴿ that is, when Ibraheem and the believers who were with him disavowed their people, who were polytheists, and that which they worshipped besides Allah.

Then they expressed their enmity in the clearest terms, saying: ﴾We renounce you, and there has arisen﴿ quite clearly ﴾between us and you enmity and hatred﴿ that is, resentment and removal of feelings of friendship from the heart, and enmity expressed in physical actions. And there is no time limit for this enmity and resentment; rather it is ﴾forever﴿, so long as you persist in your disbelief,﴾until you believe in Allah alone﴿. In other words, if you believe in Allah alone, this enmity and resentment will cease, and will turn into love and friendship.

Thus, O believers, you have a good example in Ibraheem and those who were with him of upholding faith and affirmation of divine oneness, and of acting in accordance with that, and of worshipping Allah alone in all things.

However there is one exception to that, which is mentioned in the words: ﴾But [do not emulate] the words of Ibraheem to his father﴿ Azar, who was a polytheist and stubborn disbeliever, whom Ibraheem called to believe and affirm the oneness of Allah, but he refused. Hence Ibraheem said: ﴾I will surely pray for forgiveness for you﴿, although ﴾jl have no power to protect you from [the punishment of] Allah﴿; but I will call upon my Lord; perhaps my supplication to my Lord will not remain unanswered.

You should not follow the example of Ibraheem in this instance, when he prayed for one who associated others with Allah.

So you should not pray for the polytheists and say that by doing so you are following the path of Ibraheem, for Allah has told us of Ibraheem’s excuse for doing that in the verse in which He says:

﴾Ibraheem’s prayer for his father’s forgiveness was only because of a promise he had made to him. But when it became clear to him that he was an enemy to Allah, he disavowed him. Verily, Ibraheem was humble in supplication, forbearing.﴿ (at-Tawbah 9: 114)

You have a good example in Ibraheem and those who were with him when they called upon Allah, put their trust in Him, turned to Him and acknowledged their helplessness and shortcomings. They said: ﴾Our Lord, in You we put our trust﴿ that is, we rely on You to bring that which will benefit us and ward off that which will harm us, and we trust You, O our Lord, to do that.﴾and to You we turn﴿ that is, we turn in obedience to You, seeking Your pleasure and all that may bring us closer to You, for we are striving to do that and to do good deeds, and we know our return is to You, so we are preparing to meet You and doing that which will bring us close to You.

(﴾Our Lord, do not make us subject to the persecution of the disbelievers﴿ that is, do not give them power over us for our sins, so that they persecute us and prevent us as much as they can from practising our faith, which would cause them further confusion, for if they see that they have the upper hand, they will think that they are following the right path and that we are following the wrong path, and they will increase in disbelief and tyranny.

﴾and forgive us, our Lord﴿ for what we have committed of sins and evil deeds, and for our shortcomings in doing what is enjoined upon us.

﴾Verily You are the Almighty﴿ Who subjugates all things,

﴾the Most Wise]﴿ Who does all that is appropriate.

By Your might and wisdom, grant us victory over our enemies, forgive us our sins, and mend our faults.

Then Allah reiterates the encouragement to follow the example of Ibraheem and his followers, as He says: ﴾Verily in them [Ibraheem and his followers] you have a good example﴿.

It is not made easy for everyone to follow this example; rather it is only made easy for those ﴾who look with hope to Allah and the Last Day﴿. Having faith and seeking reward makes it easy for a person to face every difficult thing, makes him think little of all that he does, and makes him steadfast in following the example of the righteous slaves of Allah, the Prophets and Messengers, for he sees himself in need of that and compelled to try to do that.

﴾And whoever turns away﴿ from obeying Allah and following the example of His Messengers only harms himself; he does not harm Allah in the slightest.﴾verily Allah is Self-Sufficient﴿ and completely independent of means in all aspects, so he has no need of anyone among His creation at all ﴾Worthy of all praise﴿ in His essence, His names. His attributes and His deeds. He is praiseworthy in all of that.

Then Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) tells us that this enmity that He has enjoined the believers to have towards the polytheists, and described the believers as showing enmity towards them, is applicable so long as they persist in their polytheism and disbelief. But if they become believers, then the ruling is connected to the reason for it, and in that case love that is based on faith should prevail.

So do not despair, O believers, of their turning to faith, for ﴾It may be that Allah will bring about friendship between you and those of them whom you [currently] consider enemies﴿, the cause of which will be their turning to faith.

﴾For Allah has power [over all things]﴿, which includes His being able to guide people’s hearts and change them from one condition to another.

﴾and Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful﴿. He does not regard any sin as being too great to forgive, or any fault as being too big to conceal.

﴾Say [Allah says]: O My slaves who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning greatly], do not despair of the mercy of Allah, for verily Allah forgives all sins. Verily, it is He Who is the Oft- Forgiving, Most Merciful.﴿ (az-Zumar 39: 53)

This verse indicates - and offers glad tidings - that some of the polytheists, who at that time were enemies of the believers, would become Muslim. And that indeed came to pass, praise be to Allah.

When these verses - which urge the believers to regard the disbelievers as enemies - were revealed, the believers paid complete attention and complied with these instructions in the most perfect manner, and they refrained, for fear of sin, from upholding ties with some of their polytheist relatives, thinking that this was included inwhat Allah had forbidden. Therefore Allah told them that this was not included in the prohibition and said: ﴾Allah does not forbid you to deal kindly and justly with those who do not fight you because of your religion or drive you out of your homes, for verily Allah loves those who are just﴿. That is, Allah does not forbid you to show kindness, uphold ties, and to be fair and just towards the polytheists among your relatives and others, if they are not involved in waging war against you or driving you out of your homes.

So there is no blame on you if you uphold ties with them, because there are no reservations about upholding ties with them in this case, and doing so will not lead to bad consequences. This is similar to what Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says about polytheist parents, if their child is Muslim: 4jBut if they endeavour to make you ascribe partners to Me of which you have no knowledge, then do not obey them. But keep company with them in this world kindly...﴿ (Luqmcm 31:15)

﴾Allah only forbids you to take as allies those who fight you because of your religion﴿ out of enmity towards the religion of Allah and those who follow it, ﴾drive you out of your homes or help others in driving you out﴿.

Allah forbids you to ﴾take them as allies﴿ by showing friendship and support to them in word and deed.

As for your acts of kindness and generosity that do not come under the heading of taking the polytheists as allies, Allah does not forbid you to do that. Rather that comes under the general heading of the command to show kindness to relatives, other humans and other creatures.

﴾whoever takes them as allies, it is they who are the wrongdoers﴿ and the degree of wrongdoing is connected to the level of allegiance shown.

If it is complete allegiance, then it is disbelief that puts one beyond the pale of Islam; anything less than that is still a serious matter.

60:10. O you who believe, when believing women come to you as migrants, test their sincerity, although Allah knows best as to [the sincerity of] their faith. Then if you determine that they are sincere believers, do not send them back to the disbelievers; they are not lawful [wives] for the disbelievers, nor are the disbelievers lawful [husbands] for them. But give the disbelieving husbands what they have spent [on their dowries]. And there is no blame on you if you marry them, provided that you give them their dowries. Do not hold on to marriage ties with disbelieving women; ask for the return of what you have spent [on their dowries], and let the disbelievers ask for the return of what they have spent [on dowries to believing women]. This is the ruling of Allah, judging between you, and Allah is All-Knowing, Most Wise.

60:11. If any of your wives desert you and go to join the disbelievers [who then refuse to pay the dowries of those women], then you have your turn [to pay the dowry for Muslim women who come and join you], then give to those believers whose wives have deserted them the equivalent of what they had spent [on their dowries]. And fear Allah, in Whom you believe.

In the treaty of al-Hudaybiyah, the Prophet (ﷺ) came to an agreement with the polytheists that if anyone from their side cameto him as a Muslim, he would send him back to the polytheists. This agreement was in general terms and included both women and men.

In the case of men, Allah did not forbid His Messenger (ﷺ) from sending them back to the polytheists, in fulfilment of the conditions stipulated in the treaty, which greatly served the interest of the Muslims.

But when it came to women, because sending them back would result in many negative consequences, Allah instructed the believers, if believing women came to them as migrants, and they were uncertain about the sincerity of their faith, to examine and test them in order to verify their sincerity, by asking them to swear a solemn oath and by other means. That is because their faith may be insincere, and their motive for migration may have been for the purpose of marrying some man, moving to another land, or some other worldly aim.

If they were insincere, it became a must to send them back, in accordance with the terms of the treaty, provided that doing so would not lead to negative consequences. If they tested them and found them to be sincere, or if they knew that that was indeed the case without having to test them, then they were not to send them back to the disbelievers.

﴾they are not lawful [wives] for the disbelievers, nor are the disbelievers lawful [husbands] for Ihem﴿. This refers to the serious negative consequences that would result from sending them back, that the Lawgiver took into account along with the terms of the treaty. Therefore it was prescribed that the disbelieving husbands should be given what they had spent on their dowries, as compensation for their loss of these women.

In that case, there is nothing wrong with Muslim men marrying them, even if they have husbands in the polytheist land, but that is on condition that they give these women their rights as regards dowries and maintenance.

Just as a Muslim woman is not permissible for a disbelieving man to marry, it is not permissible for a Muslim man to keep a disbelieving wife, so long as she persists in her disbelief, with the exception of women from the People of the Book. Hence Allah te) says: ﴾Do not hold on to marriage ties with disbelieving women﴿. If it is forbidden to hold on to marriage ties with them, then it is more appropriate that it should be forbidden to marry them in the first place.

﴾ask for the return of what you have spent [on their dowries]﴿ O believers, if your wives go back to the disbelievers as apostates. If the disbelievers may take back from the Muslims what they had spent on their wives who became Muslim, then the Muslims in turn deserve to take back what they had spent on their wives who went over to the disbelievers.

﴾This is the ruling of Allah, judging between you, and Allah is All-Knowing, Most Wise﴿ - He knows what rulings are good for you, and He prescribes for you that which is dictated by His wisdom.

﴾flf any of your wives desert you and go to join the disbelievers﴿ as apostates, and the disbelievers then refuse to pay the dowries of those women,

﴾then you have your turn [to pay the dowry for Muslim women who come and join you], then give to those believers whose wives have deserted them the equivalent of what they had spent [on their dowries]﴿. As we have seen above that the disbelievers would take some payment in return for what they had spent on their spouses who joined the Muslims, by the same token, if the wife of a Muslim went over to the disbelievers and deserted her husband, then the Muslims were required to give him wealth to replace what he had spent on her.

﴾And fear Allah, in Whom you believe﴿ for your faith in Allah dictates that you should constantly fear Him.•jr-

60:12, O Prophet, when believing women come to you to swear allegiance to you, pledging that they will not associate anything with Allah, that they will not steal, that they will not commit adultery [or fornication], that they will not kill their children, that they will not fabricate any lie concerning that which is between their arms and legs, and that they will not disobey you in what is right, then accept their allegiance and ask Allah to forgive them. Verily Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

The conditions mentioned in this verse are called mubaya'at an-nisa' (the woman’s oath of allegiance). The women used to swear allegiance to the Prophet (jig), pledging to uphold at all times the duties that were shared by both males and females.

In the case of men, what is required of them varies according to their circumstances and status, and what is to be expected of them. The Prophet (ﷺ) used to comply with whatever Allah instructed him to do.

When women came to him to swear allegiance to him, committing themselves to adhering to these conditions, he would accept their oath of allegiance, reassure them and ask Allah to forgive them for whatever they might do of shortcomings, and he included them with all of the believers in requiring them to fulfil the following conditions:

t-fthat they will not associate anything with Allah﴿ and they will worship Allah alone﴾that they will not commit adultery [or fornication]﴿ as was widespread at the time, with many women becoming prostitutes or taking lovers ﴾that they will not kill their children﴿ as was done by ignorant women of the jahiliyah, such as burying daughters alive ﴾that they will not fabricate any lie concerning that which is between their arms and legs﴿ that is, they should not fabricate any lies at all, whether they have to do with themselves, their husbands or anyone else ﴾and that they will not disobey you in what is right﴿ that is, they will not disobey you in any instruction you give them, because your command can only be what is right. That includes obeying you with regard to the prohibition on wailing, rending their garments, slapping their faces, and calling the call of jahiliyah.

﴾then accept their allegiance﴿ if they commit themselves to everything mentioned above.

﴾and ask Allah to forgive them﴿ for their shortcomings, so as to reassure them.

﴾Verily Allah is Oft-Forgiving﴿ that is. He often forgives the sinners and is kind to those who repent

﴾Most Merciful﴿; His mercy encompasses all things and His kindness encompasses all of creation.

60:13. O you who believe, do not take as allies people with whom Allah is angry. They have indeed despaired of [reward in] the hereafter, just as the disbelievers have despaired of [ever seeing again] the occupants of the graves.

That is, O believers, if you truly believe in your Lord and seek His pleasure and seek to avoid His wrath,

﴾do not take as allies people with whom Allah is angry﴿ for He is only angry with them because of their disbelief. This includes all kinds of disbelievers.

﴾They have indeed despaired of [reward in] the hereafter﴿ that is, they have been deprived of the goodness of the hereafter, so they have no share of it. So beware of taking them as allies, lest you go along with their evil and disbelief, and thus be deprived of the good of the hereafter just as they have been deprived thereof.

fjjust as the disbelievers have despaired of [ever seeing again] the occupants of the graves﴿. What is meant by their having despaired of the (reward of the) hereafter is that they denied it and disbelieved in it.

In that case it is no wonder that they do that which angers Allah and incurs His punishment, and have despaired of the hereafter, as the disbelievers who denied the resurrection in this world despaired of the inhabitants of the graves.

This is ihe end olTho commentary on Soorat al-Mumtal.ianah.

All praise and thanks are for Allah, and may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ). his family, and his Companions abundantly until the Day of Judgement.