The Noble Qur'an Encyclopedia

O you who believe, do not take My enemies and your enemies as allies, offering them friendship even though they rejected the truth that has come to you, and they have driven out the Messenger and yourselves [from Makkah] simply because you believe in Allah, your Lord – if you have emigrated[1] to struggle in My cause and seek My pleasure. How can you disclose secrets [of the believers], showing them friendship, when I know best all that you conceal and all that you reveal? Whoever among you does that has truly strayed from the straight path.

If they gain the upper hand over you, they would be your [open] enemies and would stretch their hands and tongues towards you to harm you, and they wish that you too would disbelieve.

Neither your relatives nor your children will benefit you on the Day of Resurrection; He will judge between you, and Allah is All-Seeing of what you do.

Indeed, you have a good example[2] in Abraham and those with him, when they said to their people, “We dissociate ourselves from you and whatever you worship besides Allah. We renounce you, and the enmity and hatred have arisen between us and you forever until you believe in Allah alone”, except for Abraham when he said to his father, “I will seek forgiveness for you, but I cannot protect you from Allah in the least.” “Our Lord, in You we put our trust and to You we turn, and to You is the final return.”

Our Lord, do not make us subject to the persecution of those who disbelieve; and forgive us, our Lord. Indeed, You are the All-Mighty, the All-Wise.”

You certainly have a good example in them, for those who look forward with hope to Allah and the Last Day. But whoever turns away, Allah is indeed the Self-Sufficient, the Praiseworthy.

It may be that Allah will bring about affection between you and those of them whom you hold as enemies. Allah is Most Capable[3], and Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

Allah does not forbid you from being kind and just to those who did not fight against you nor did they drive you out of your homes. Indeed, Allah loves those who are just.

Allah only forbids you from taking as allies those who fought against you on account of your religion and drove you out of your homes or helped others in driving you out. Whoever takes them as allies, it is they who are the wrongdoers.

O you who believe, when the believing women come to you as migrants, test their sincerity, although Allah knows best about their faith. Then if you find them to be believers, do not send them back to the disbelievers; they are not lawful [wives] for them, nor are they lawful [husbands] for them. But give the disbelievers whatever [dowries] they have spent[4]. And there is no blame on you if you marry them, as long as you give them their dowries. Do not hold on to the marriage ties with the disbelieving women[5]; ask for repayment of whatever [dowries] you have spent, and let the disbelievers ask for repayment of whatever [dowries] they have spent[6]. This is the ruling of Allah that He judges between you, and Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise.

If any of your wives desert you and join the disbelievers [without returning your dowries], and later you take spoils from them, then give to those whose wives have deserted them the equivalent of what they had spent. And fear Allah, in Whom you believe.

O Prophet, when the believing women come to you, pledging to you that they will not associate anything with Allah, that they will not steal, that they will not commit fornication, that they will not kill their children, that they will not falsely attribute [illegitimate] children to their husbands between their arms and their legs[7], that they will not disobey you in what is right, then accept their pledge and ask Allah to forgive them. Indeed, Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

O you who believe, do not take as allies a people whom Allah is displeased with. They have lost hope in the Hereafter, just as the disbelievers have lost hope in those who are in the graves.