3. Aal-i-Imraan

If they are against you they will not harm you, O believers, in your belief, or in yourselves, except through their words: criticising your faith and making fun of you and so on. Also, if they fight you they will flee from you in defeat, and will never be victorious over you.

Humiliation and shame has been made to surround them wherever they are, and they are only safe with a contract or protection from Allah or from people. They have earned the anger of Allah, and need and poverty has been made to surround them. This is due to their rejection of the signs of Allah, killing the prophets unjustly, and because they rebelled and overstepped the limits of Allah.

Having made clear what many of the People of the Scripture are like, Allah then explains that there is a group among them who are upright and stand by the truth – not all the People of the Scripture are the same. Rather, there is a group among them who follow the Religion of Allah: doing as Allah instructs and staying away from what He has prohibited, reading the verses of Allah in the hours of the night, and praying to Him. This group existed before the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was sent, and became Muslim when they met him and understood his message.

Whatever good these people do, whether it is little or much, their reward for it will not be lost. Allah knows those who are Mindful, who follow what He instructs, and stay away from what He prohibits. None of what they do is hidden from Him, and they will be rewarded accordingly.

Disbelievers in Allah and His Messenger will not be helped against Allah by their wealth or children: they will not prevent His punishment or bring His mercy to them; rather, their suffering and distress will only increase, and they will be eternally companions of the fire of Hell.

The example of what disbelievers spend in charity, and what they expect to receive of rewards, is like a wind which is extremely cold that hits the crops of a people who wronged themselves by not doing as they were instructed, ruining their crops when they had expected to have a good harvest. Disbelief also ruins the rewards of good deeds. Allah does not wrong them for He is far above any injustice, rather, they wrong themselves through their disbelief in Allah and His prophets.

O you who have faith in Allah and follow His Prophet, do not take unbelievers as close friends, letting them know your secrets and private business. They will not stop trying to harm you and ruin things for you, wanting what will hurt you and making things really difficult for you. Their hatred and hostility has appeared in what they say; in their criticism of your faith and worship, in incidents between you, and in them giving away your secrets. In their hearts they have even more hatred. Allah has made clear to you what is in your interests in this world and in the Afterlife, if you use your intellect to understand what your Lord has revealed to you.

It is you, O believers, who love these people, and want goodness for them, but they do not love you, and do not wish you well. Rather, they hate you, while you have faith in all of the scriptures, including their scriptures; yet they do not have faith in the Scripture which Allah revealed to your Prophet. If they meet you they say with their tongues, ‘We have faith’, yet when they are alone together they bite the tips of their fingers in distress and rage because of how united you are, the strength of Islam, and because of their own humiliation and shame. Tell these people, O Prophet, to stay as they are until they die in their rage. Allah knows what faith and disbelief and what good and evil there is in people’s hearts.

If a blessing comes to you in the forms of victory over an enemy, or an increase in wealth or children, then worry and sadness overcomes them; and if a misfortune hits you, such as the victory of an enemy over you, or a decrease in wealth or children, then they are happy, rejoicing at your misfortune. If you are patient with Allah’s commands and decree, and are mindful of not earning Allah’s anger, then their tricks and attempts to hurt you will not harm you. Allah encompasses all their plotting and what they do, and will make them fail.