8. Al-Anfaal

If their goal, O Muhammad, is to betray you by the words they utter, then they have betrayed Allah previously and Allah gave you victory over them when some of them were killed and others were taken captive. They should therefore wait for something similar to happen if they return to their evil. Allah knows about His creation and what is best for them, and He is Wise in His handling of affairs.

Those who believed in Allah, accepted His Messenger, practised His sacred law, emigrated from the land of disbelief to the land of Islam, or to a place in which they can worship Allah safely, and strived in Allah’s path by spending their wealth and giving their lives to raise Allah’s Word, and those who hosted them in their homes and supported them – those emigrants and those locals who supported them are friends of one another in terms of providing support and assistance. As for those who believed in Allah but did not emigrate from the land of disbelief to the land of Islam, you have no obligation, O believers, to support and protect them until they emigrate in Allah’s path. If the disbelievers oppress them and they seek your help, then help them against their enemies, unless there is a pact between you and their enemy that is still in place. Allah sees what you do. No action of yours is hidden from Him and He will repay you for them.

The disbelievers are united in their disbelief and they therefore become friends of one another. A believer should not become friends with them. If you do not become friends with the believers and oppose the disbelievers, the believers will suffer weakness as a result of a lack of support and there will be great corruption on earth as people will be prevented from Allah’s path.

Those who believed in Allah and emigrated in His path, and those who provided shelter and assistance to the emigrants in Allah’s path, they are the ones who can be truly described as having faith. They will receive Allah’s forgiveness for their sins and a generous reward: Paradise.