89. Can people of other faiths be treated as friends?
In these verses (3:118, 3:128, 4:89, 4:139, 4:144, 5:51, 5:57, 5:80, 5:81, 9:16, 9:23, 58:14, 60:1, 60:8, 60:9, 60:13) the Quran says not to take people belonging to other faiths as intimate friends, except Muslims.
Some people may suspect this verse as sowing hatred against people of other faiths.
If we come to know who this verse refers to, and under what circumstances this verse was revealed, it would help to get rid of the suspicion.
During the period when the Quran was being revealed, polytheists and jews living around were mobilizing forces against Muslims.
They were very much bent upon decimating the Muslims and Islam, not a year passed without a battle with them, there were at times more than a one war in a year.
At such grim situations relatives of Muslims who lived among enemies were prevented from mingling with them to avoid information reaching them.
When keenly observed these verses can be found they are not a generalized statement and do not apply to all non-Muslims.
Verse 5:57 says not to make intimate friends of people who mock Islam. This is not directed at people who do not treat Islam as an object of mocking.
Verse 60:2 of the Quran says ‘do not make close friends of those who are against you, and those who plan to harm you with their deeds and speeches’. This does not apply to people who are not enemies of Muslims and those who do not plan to harm them by their deeds and words.
Verse 60:1 of the Quran says, ‘not to make friends of those who banished you and Prophet Muhammad from your birthplace’. People belonging to any religion, whatever, will not entertain such friendship that encourages harm to others.
The verses 60:8,9 say ‘Those who banished Prophet Muhammad and you from your place of birth, and the ones who are ready to fight against you because of your faith, do not make them your intimate friends. And make friends with those who do not treat you in that manner and also be helpful to them’. These verses say about people who are eligible to be friends with Muslims and those who are ineligible.
Verse 3:118 of the Quran says, ‘not to make friends of people who are outwardly against and have plans to decimate you’. Who would ever want to be friends with people who desire your destruction?
Verse 5:82 says Christians of those days were close friends of Muslims. In this verse we see the welcoming of the bonhomie between Christians and Muslims.
Verses 5:2, 5:8 says, ‘Do not wrong a community because it heaped atrocities on you’. Can a better social harmony be maintained than rendering justice to non-Muslims as their right.
Verse 9:4 says ‘Fulfill your obligations, towards those whom you have undertaken a covenant. Would it be called communal hatred when the Quran says to fulfill obligations based on earlier agreements, even when the enemies confront an army.
Also verse 9:6 says to offer refuge to non-Muslims when requested, and not refuse because of they are being non -Muslim.
Verses 31:15, and 29:8, of the Quran say to fulfill the duties towards parents even if they do not happen to be Muslims.
If we note the contents of these verses combined with the above, we can find Islam advising Muslims to live in harmony with those who do not declare war on them.
Non-Muslims during the reign of Prophet Muhammad enjoyed all legitimate rights.
A young Jew was employed by Prophet Muhammad as his helper, when the Jewish community considered him as its prime enemy.
During Prophet Muhammad’s reign, the Jews proved to be a great impediment and even planned to eliminate him. And they were among the people who exchanged intelligence with enemy countries, and bigots/hypocrites.
Prophet Muhammad employed a person belonging to such a community. He possessed the noble attitude of not ill-treating good people from a bad community. And this we see as a reason for him admitting a person as his employee albeit belonging to an enemy community.
Prophet Muhammad pledged his safety wear worn during wars to a Jew.
(Hadith Book Bukhari: 2096, 2252, 2509, 2513, 2068, 2200, 2251, 2386, 2916)
During the reign of Prophet Muhammad Jews were a minority, and still they acted as agents to enemy countries.
Any country will not tolerate people who are not loyal to it, but this is a proof of how Jews were treated despite the impediments they caused to Prophet Muhammad’s regime.
The broad thinking of Prophet Muhammad can be seen by the fact that as a ruler of the country he was a mortgager while a person belonging to a minority sect a mortgagee.
A Jewish woman served Prophet Muhammad meat laced with poison, she was captured and brought in the presence of Prophet Muhammad, who let her go off while his comrades wanted to put her to death. Anas (RA) said, ‘I was able to see the effect of the poison on the palate of Prophet Muhammad’.
Hadith Book Bukhari:2617.
Prophet Muhammad was magnanimous to accept meat unknowingly from a Jewish (enemies of Islam and belonging to a minority sect) woman who had laced it with poison. Prophet Muhammad pardoned her when she was presented (after being captured by his comrades) before him, though they insisted on her being put to death.
The stand of the message Prophet Muhammad introduced was to punish the guilty severely, but when implementing Islamic laws (though very severe) in his personal matters was magnanimous in forgiving the guilty.
In an incident when Prophet Muhammad was seated on the floor with his comrades, a funeral procession happened to pass by, Prophet Muhammad immediately stood up as a mark of respect, he was told that it was the funeral of a Jew, he replied ‘Isn’t that a soul too?
Hadith Book Bukhari:1313, 1311.
We witness riots taking place even now in the 21st century when dead bodies are carried down streets populated with members of a particular community objecting to it (carrying dead bodies of lower castes through the streets where higher castes live).
We see the denial of rights to people’s cortege even while permitting their movement alive.
Prophet Muhammad while being the head of a government, the Jews considered as his enemies and belonging to a minority sect, carried a dead body of a member of the community without fear or hesitation in his presence.
In a country ruled by a Muslim ruler people of other faiths did not have any inhibitions in carrying a dead body passing through the street of a Muslim ruler’s residence.
Prophet Muhammad and Muslims did not maintain patience with hatred in their hearts while waiting for the funeral procession to pass through. We can understand their sincerity when they pay their respect by standing up. The Jews of those days approached Prophet Muhammad seeking justice in arbitrations.
Hadith Book Bukhari: 2412, 2417.
Muslims maintained bonhomie with bigots of those days on whom war was not declared, one of the reasons credited with Islam winning them over.
Hence it should be understood that the statement of the Quran not to make friends with non-Muslims is not a generalized one.
To know more about war, terrorism, jihad please refer explanation point Nos:53, 54, 55, 76, 197, 198, 199, 203, 359
