The issue of Islamic teachings about relations between Muslims and people of other faiths has been, and still is, the subject of much debate and discussion. The fact of the matter is that not just non-Muslims but even many Muslims themselves are victims of grave misunderstandings about this issue. Many non-Muslims, being victims of anti-Islamic propaganda, believe that Islam is wholly opposed to cordial relations between Muslims and others. As far as Muslims are concerned, a not insignificant section of them have come under the influence of self-styled ‘revolutionary’ ideologues who have incorrectly understood and interpreted Islamic teachings about inter-community relations. These misunderstandings have been further promoted by certain fiqh prescriptions as developed by the Muslim jurists, particularly in the medieval period, which many Muslims still view as almost sacrosanct.
Islam, if properly understood and interpreted, passionately supports cordial relations between Muslims and others, all of who are fellow children of Adam. As God says in the Quran:
‘Verily we have honoured the Children of Adam’ (17: 70).
Accordingly, some fuqaha, scholars of Muslim jurisprudence, have written, ‘From the point of the shariah, a human being is worthy of respect and consideration, even if he is an infidel’ (al-adami mukarramun shar‘an walau kafiran).
Islam exhorts its followers to relate to non-Muslims with decency, mercy and kindness. It recognizes the rights of the latter as neighbours. The Prophet is said to have declared, ‘Gabriel stressed to me the rights of neighbours so much that I felt that they might be included as heirs [in one’s property, after one’s death].’
Obviously, the reference to neighbours here includes both Muslims and non-Muslims. In line with this commandment of the Prophet, it is said that Abdullah, a well-known companion of the Prophet and son of the Caliph Umar, would send meat to his Jewish neighbor on the festival of Eid al-Azha so as to fufill this neighbourly obligation towards him.
In Mecca, and, later, in Medina, the Prophet maintained close social relations with many non-Muslims. In Mecca, prior to his hijra or migration to Medina, the Prophet invited the leaders of the pagans of the town, who were vociferously opposed to him, at least twice to his house for a meal. According to some reports, when in Medina the Prophet would accept invitations from the local Jews and visit their homes. It is said that he had a Jewish servant and that he even used to grant stipends to some Jews. From the teachings and practice of the Prophet we learn that it is not forbidden (contrary to what some Muslims might think) to participate in the joys and sorrows of people of other faiths. Some companions of the Prophet even lived with their non-Muslim relatives, and never compelled them to accept Islam because Islam does not allow for this.
Despite these Islamic teachings, however, it cannot be denied that on both the intellectual as well as practical levels an enormous gulf still divides Muslims and others. This has, in part, to do with wrong interpretations of certain Islamic teachings because of later developments in history, and not with Islam as such. Certain political, cultural and geographical factors have coloured popular interpretations of Islam, including its teachings about inter-community relations. This has led to serious misunderstandings about Islam.
One example is the erroneous way in which some Islamic scholars have interpreted the following verses of the Quran that forbid Muslims from befriending non-Muslims:
1. ‘O ye who believe! Choose not disbelievers for (your) friends in place of believers’ (4:144)
2. ‘O ye who believe! Take not the Jews and the Christians for friends’ (5: 51).
3. ‘O ye who believe! Choose not My enemy and your enemy for allies’ (60:1)
Basically, ignoring the particular contexts in which these verses were revealed and which they address has created tremendous confusion in Muslim thinking about inter-community relations. Some Muslim scholars have wrongly generalized from these statements to argue that, as a rule, Muslims are forbidden from befriending (muwalat) all non-Muslims. Some of them claim that what the Quran here forbids is ‘friendship of the heart’. Thus, for instance, the noted Deobandi scholar Mufti Muhammad Shafi argued that while the Quran ‘does not forbid decent behaviour’ with non-Muslims, it bans ‘friendship of the heart’ with them. He further adds that such friendship is forbidden ‘not only with enemies one is at war with, but also with the non-Muslim protected subjects (ahl-e zimma) and the pagans one has a peace agreement with (ahl-e sulh kafir).’
Some Islamic scholars speak of four types of relations with non-Muslims: mudarat or efforts to win their hearts; muwwasat or efforts to familiarize oneself with them and/or to share in their problems; muamilat or social and economic interactions with them; and, finally, muwalat, or friendship. They allow for the first three while forbidding the last-mentioned. Mufti Muhammad Shafi explains this in his Quranic commentary, Ma‘arif al-Quran, thus:
‘From these details you will have come to understand that friendship of the heart and love for a kafir is not permissible under any circumstances whatsoever, and that benevolence and compassion and good behaviour are permissible, except with regard to people one is at war with.’
Numerous other ulema argue on the same lines as Mufti Muhammad Shafi on this issue.
In my opinion, however, it is not correct to translate muwalat as ‘friendship of the heart’ or ‘very close friendship’, as Mufti Muhammad Shafi and others do. In this regard, it is striking to note that Islam has allowed Muslim men to marry women from among the ‘People of the Book’—Jews and Christians. Numerous important companions of the Prophet were married to Jewish or Christian women. This being the case, how is it at all possible to demand that such Muslims not sincerely love their non-Muslim wives? Is this not tantamount to demanding that they be hypocrites? And, if they are not to love their wives will not this create immense marital and other social problems? If Muslim men married to non-Muslim women (from among the ‘People of the Book’) are forbidden from loving them—which these ulema who forbid love and friendship between Muslims and others would seemingly argue—what is the point of marriage then? In fact, it will be a total contradiction of the following Quranic verse:
‘And of His signs is this: He created for you helpmeets from yourselves that ye might find rest in them, and He ordained between you love and mercy’ (30: 21).
The fact of the matter is that the Quranic verses that forbid close relations between Muslims and some non-Muslims relate to certain specific contexts, as, for instance, a situation wherein aggression mounted by the pagan Arabs against the Muslims had led to war. Naturally, in such a context it was not advisable for Muslims to have close relations with them at that time for fear that they might help them or reveal sensitive matters to them. This point will be made amply clear from a close study of the causes of revelation (asbab ul-nuzul) of these verses.
Lamentably, even greater confusion has been created on the issue of the permissibility or otherwise of friendship with non-Muslims through incorrect interpretations of the Arabic terms wala’ (friendship or loyalty [with regard to fellow Muslims]) and bara’ (distance from, or disavowal of [non-Muslims]). Thus, for instance, Shaikh Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahhab, the founder of the ‘Wahhabi’ movement, claimed:
‘A person’s [faith in] Islam cannot be proper until he believes in monotheism and abandons polytheism and bears enmity [in his heart] for polytheists.’
This claim is, undoubtedly, wholly erroneous and is an invention of the Shaikh himself. No evidence can be adduced from the Quran and the Hadith for this claim about hating polytheists being a condition for one to be considered a true Muslim. False and extremist interpretations like this that have played a deadly role in fomenting misunderstandings about Islam among non-Muslims.
It is imperative that Muslim scholars study and counter the wrong interpretations of Islamic teachings that relate to relations between Muslims and others. Without this, no amount of effort can counter the equally false propaganda against Islam of anti-Islamic forces.
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