Boreal

Shared Prophets

Afterword

2:62 The believers (Muslims), the Jews, the Christians and the Sabians – whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day and does what is good, shall receive their reward from their Lord. They shall have nothing to fear and they shall not grieve.

109:6 “You have your religion and I have mine.”

As Islam became a force to be reckoned with, God's position towards other religions hardened and He sent down revelations which invalidated what He said earlier about tolerance, such as the following:

3:85 Whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted from him, and in the Hereafter he will be one of the losers.

Scholars have identified more than two hundred revealed truths that were abrogated by subsequent communications from Allah to Muhammad. These ephemeral immutable facts and their abrogator(s), I have documented in Let Me Rephrase That!, Boreal Books.

I would have liked to end Shared Prophet on an optimistic note, but I would have had to ignore Allah’s warnings to believers about taking unbelievers as friends along with His newfound intolerance for other religions. Pity…

Can We Be Friends?

Unless there is no other choice—and even then, Allah warns against it—believers must not befriend unbelievers. Unless “you guard against them fully” you will make God very angry, and you wouldn’t want that. 

3:28 Let not the believers take the unbelievers for friends, rather than the believers. Whoever does that has nothing to do with Allah, unless you guard against them fully! Allah warns you to beware of Him (warns you of His anger); and unto Him is the ultimate return!

If you did not get the message the first time:

3:118 O believers, do not take as close friends other than your own people (other than your co-religionists); they will spare no effort to corrupt you and wish to see you suffer. Hatred has already been manifest in what they utter, but what their hearts conceal is greater still. We have made clear Our Signs to you if only you understand.

3:119 There you are, you love them, but they do not love you, and you believe in the entire book (all Scriptures). When they meet you, they say: “We believe”, but when they are alone they bite their fingertips with rage. Say: “Die of your fury. Allah knows what is hidden in the hearts!”

3:120 If you are visited by some good fortune it vexes them; and if you are visited by some misfortune, they rejoice at it; but if you forbear and fear Allah, their wiles will not hurt you at all. Allah knows fully what they do!

And again for good measure:

4:144 O believers, do not take the unbelievers for friends, instead of the believers. Do you wish to give Allah a clear proof against you?

And again, with a specific warning about associating with Christians and Jews: 

5:51 O believers, do not take the Jews and the Christians as friends; some of them are friends of each other. Whoever of you takes them as friends is surely one of them. Allah indeed does not guide the wrongdoers.

A specific warning about associating with family members who don’t believe, even if it means losing money: 

9:23 O believers, do not take your fathers and brothers as friends, if they prefer disbelief to belief. Those who take them as friends are the wrongdoers.

9:24 Say: “If your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your spouses, your relatives, the wealth you have gained, a trade you fear might slacken, and dwellings you love are dearer to you than Allah and His Messenger or than fighting in His way, then wait until Allah fulfils His Decree. Allah does not guide the sinful people.

If a believer associates with unbelievers, Allah will question their motivation, imputing to the believer a desire for the glory that rightly and only belongs to Him. 

4:139 Those who take the unbelievers as friends instead of the believers – do they seek glory from them? For all glory belongs to Allah.

A believer is not an unbeliever’s keeper and is not expected to participate in any conversation where the Koran is not taken seriously.

6:68 And when you see those who talk scornfully about Our Revelations, turn away from them, until they engage in another discourse. And should the devil cause you to forget, do not sit down with the evil-doing people.

6:69 The righteous are in no way accountable for them; it is only a reminder so that they may fear [Allah]. 

To take part in a discussion in which the Koran is not taken seriously is risk being labelled a hypocrite by Allah. 

4:140 He has revealed to you in the Book that, should you hear the Revelations of Allah being denied or mocked, you should not sit with them until they engage in some other discussion. Otherwise, you are like them. Allah shall assemble all the hypocrites and the unbelievers in Hell;

Hypocrites will be confined to the worst part of the Fire unless they repent and “mend their ways.”

4:145 Surely, the hypocrites will be in the lowest depths of the Fire, and you will not find any supporter for them.

4:146 Except for those who repent and mend their ways, hold fast to Allah and are sincere in their obedience to Allah – those will be among the believers; and Allah shall grant the believers a great reward.

4:147 Why should Allah punish you, if you are thankful and faithful? Allah Himself is Thankful, All-Knowing.

If you must leave a discussion, do so gracefully, if haughtily, while reminding those who don’t share your beliefs that they are clueless. 

28:55 And when they hear idle talk, they turn away from it and say: “We have our words and you have your works. Peace be upon you; we do not desire the company of the ignorant.”

A religion is a solemn thing; don’t associate with religious people who have fun worshipping God and enjoying life. 

6:70 And leave those who take their religion for sport and who are deluded by the life of this world, and remind by it (the Qur’an), lest any soul should perish of what it has earned (on account of the person’s deeds). Apart from Allah, it has no protector or intercessor; and if it offers any ransom, it will not be accepted from it. Such are those who are turned over [to be punished] on account of what they have earned. They will have a drink of boiling water and a very painful punishment, because they disbelieved.

A believer must not take as a friend anyone who would deny or make fun of what Allah has revealed in the Koran, whether they are People of the Book or your run-of-the-mill unbeliever. 

5:57 O believers, do not take as friends those who take your religion as a mockery or a sport, be they from among those who received the Book before you, or the unbelievers. Fear Allah if you are true believers.

People of the Book as transgressors:

5:59 Say: “O People of the Book, do you resent anything we do other than that we believe in Allah and what has been revealed to us and what was revealed before, and that most of you are transgressors?”

Unbelievers are not welcome in Allah’s Mosques.

9:17 The unbelievers should not enter Allah’s Mosques bearing witness thereby against themselves that they are unbelievers. The works of those are vain and in the Fire they will abide forever.

9:18 Only he who believes in Allah and the Hereafter, performs the prayers, gives the alms and fears no one but Allah, shall visit Allah’s Mosques. Those shall be reckoned among the rightly guided.

Believers are not expected to take orders from unbelievers, nor tend to their injuries (Revelation 33:48). 

33:45 O Prophet, We have sent you as witness, a bearer of good news and a warner,

33:46 Calling to Allah by His Leave, and an illuminating beacon.

33:47 Announce to the believers that they will have a generous bounty from Allah.

33:48 And do not obey the unbelievers and the hypocrites, overlook their injury, and trust in Allah. For Allah suffices as Guardian.

Another verse reiterates not being friends with certain people, namely, all the groups previously mentioned.

60:13 O believers, do not befriend a people against whom Allah is wrathful and who have despaired of the Hereafter, just as the unbelievers have despaired of the dwellers of the tombs ("those buried in graves," Yusuf Ali).

A believer has no friends except Allah, His Messenger, and those who bow down before His Eminence. 

5:55 Your only friends are Allah, His Messenger and those who believe, performing the prayer and giving the alms, while they bow down.

5:56 Whoever takes Allah, His Messenger and those who believe as friends [must know] that Allah’s party is indeed triumphant.

A believer who befriends unbelievers is an evildoer!

5:80 You (Muhammad): see many of them befriending the unbelievers. Evil is what their soul prompts them to do. They have incurred Allah’s Wrath and they will suffer torment forever.

5:81 Had they believed in Allah and the Prophet, and what has been revealed to him, they would not have taken them as friends.

In Allah’s history of the Jews and Christians, there was a time…

57:16 Is it not time that the believers’ hearts should bow down at the mention of Allah and the truth which was sent down, and not to be like those who were given the Book previously, but as time went by, their hearts hardened, and many of them are sinners now.

There is a type of unbeliever, whom Allah considers believer-appropriate as friends, but identifying them could be problematic based on God’s description, and you really would not want to make a mistake that sends you to Hell. 

3:199 Of the People of the Book, there are some who indeed believe in Allah and in what has been revealed to you (the Qur’an) or has been revealed to them, humbling themselves before Allah and not selling Allah’s Revelations for a small price. Those will have their reward with their Lord; indeed Allah’s Reckoning is Swift.

Be afraid; be very afraid.

3:200 O believers, forebear and vie in forbearance and steadfastness; and fear Allah so that you may prosper.

In a 2010 BBC documentary, a leading British Islamic scholar had the following to say to his coreligionists about making nice with unbelievers:

"Allah has warned us in the Koran, do not befriend the kuffar (a derogatory term for unbelievers), do not align yourself with the kuffar; the verses are so many and so numerous I can’t recite every one of them."

From an exhortation made to students from a British madrassa by Abu Yusuf Riyadh-ul-Haq, an Islamic scholar based in the United Kingdom, not to associate with Christians and Jews.

BBC documentary, British Schools, Islamic Rules