Part 6

"Let not the believers take disbelievers for their friends in preference to

believers. Whoever does this has no connection with Allah unless you

are guarding yourselves against them as a precaution. Allah bids you to

beware (only) of Himself. And to Allah is the journeying." (3:28).

"Say, (O Muhammad, to mankind): ʹIf you love Allah, follow me; Allah

will love you and forgive you your wrong actions. Allah is Forgiving,

Compassionate.ʹ Say: ʹObey Allah and the Messenger.ʹ And if they turn

away, then surely Allah does not love the disbelievers." (3:31‐32).

Speaking of the aims of the enemies of Allah, He says:

"They long for you to disbelieve even as they disbelieve, so that you

may be the same (as them). So do not choose friends from among them

until they go out in the way of Allah." (4:89)

"O you who believe! Do not take the Jews and the Christians for

friends. They are friends of one another. And whoever of you takes

them for friends is (one) of them. Surely Allah does not guide

"O you who believe! Whoever of you becomes a rebel against his deen,

(know that in his place) Allah will bring a people whom He loves and

who love Him, humble towards the believers, harsh towards the

disbelievers, striving in the way of Allah, and not fearing the blame of

We will mention only a few of the many hadith and reports of the

Companions on this subject: Imam Ah‐mad reports from Jarir ibn Abdullah that

the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, made him swear an oath

to ʹoffer counsel to every Muslim and to steer clear of every disbeliever.ʹ 45 Ibn

Shayba reports that the Prophet said,

"The strongest bond of faith is love for the sake of Allah and enmity for

Ibn Abbas reports that the Prophet said,

"The strongest bond of faith is loyalty for the sake of Allah and

opposition for His sake, love for the sake of Allah and enmity for His

Ibn Abbas is also reported to have said,

"Whoever loves for the sake of Allah, and hates for the sake of Allah, and

whoever seals a friendship for His sake, or declares an enmity for His

sake, will receive, because of this, the protection of Allah. No one may

taste true faith except by this, even if his prayers and fasts are many.

People have come to build their relationships around the concerns of the

world, but it will not benefit them in any way." 48

Shaikh Sulaiman ibn Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab

explained the words of Ibn Abbas by saying that the meaning of ʹto seal a

friendship for the sake of Allahʹ indicates the obligation of establishing

relationships of love and trust for His sake; this is friendship for the sake of

Allah. It also indicates that simple affection is not enough here; indeed what is

meant is a love based upon alliance. This entails assistance, honour, and respect.

It means being with those whom you love both in word and deed.

45 Imam Ahmad, Musnad, 4/357‐8.

46 Abu Bakr Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn Shaybah (d.235 AH), Kitab al‐Iman.

48 Ibn Rajab al‐Hanbali, Jamiʹ alʹ‐Ulum waʹl‐Hikam, p.30.

As for ʹenmity for the sake of Allahʹ, it includes the obligation to declare

enmity for His sake: opposition for the sake of Allah. It is to declare opposition in

deed, to take up arms against His enemies, to shun them, and to stay far from

them both in word and deed. This proves that simple opposition of the spirit is

not enough, and that it must be a complete honouring of your commitment, for

"There is a good example for you in Ibrahim and those with him, when

they told their people: ʹSurely we disassociate ourselves from you and

all that you worship beside Allah. We have done with you. And there

has arisen between us and you enmity and hate for ever until you

believe in Allah only." (60:4) 49

All this leads us to conclude that loyalty for the sake of Allah really means

to love Allah and to come to the assistance of His deen; it is to love those who are

obedient to Him and to come to their help. Opposition for the sake of Allah is to

feel anger at the enemies of Allah and to struggle against them. Because of this

Allah has called the first group the ʹparty of Allahʹ and the second the ʹparty of

"Allah is the Protecting Guardian of those who believe. He brings them

out of darkness into light. As for those who disbelieve, their patrons are

false deities. They bring them out of light into darkness. Such are

rightful owners of the Fire. They will abide therein." (2:257).

"Those who believe do battle for the cause of Allah; and those who

disbelieve do battle for the cause of idols. So fight the friends of Satan.

Surely Satanʹs strategy is always weak." (4:76).

It is well known that Allah has never sent a Prophet on His mission

without also raising up opponents against him. Allah says:

"Thus have We appointed for every prophet an adversary devils from

mankind and the jinn who inspire in one another plausible words that

49 Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab, Shark Kitab at‐Tawhid, p.422.

It may be that opponents of Divine Unity possess some learning, a part of

Revelation, and proof. As Allah says:

"And when their Messengers brought them clear proofs (of Allahʹs

Sovereignty), they exulted in the knowledge which they (themselves)

possessed. And that which they had become accustomed to mock befell

It is the obligation of every Muslim to learn from Allahʹs deen whatever

may serve as a weapon for him in the struggle against the friends of Satan. In this

he should have no fear and no misgivings, since the devilʹs strategy is always

"And surely that Our host would be the victors." (37:173).

To the host of Allah shall be the victory in discussion and in debate, as in

war and strife. In this way an ordinary man from the party of the One God will

overcome a thousand scholars of the disbelievers. 50

If the aim of the enemies of Islam, whether they are atheists or Jews, or

Christians or modernists, or Zionists or Communists, is the emasculation of the

ʹaqeedah of the Muslims, and the erosion of their unique character in order to

make them ʹthe ass of the chosen peopleʹ, (as it is put in 'The Protocols of the

Elders of Zion'), then the urgency of this issue should become clear to every

We should all take heed, for ourselves and for those who are with us, so

that we may warn all the Muslims who are slipping away into the abyss of

apostasy, warn them of the treacherous call of the disbelievers to what they call

ʺbrotherhood and equalityʺ, warn them of the false claim that religion is for Allah

but that nationhood is for the masses. We will return to this point in more detail

For the present, the evidence is clear from the Qurʹan and the Sunnah that

allegiance is demanded by the declaration of faith since this is an essential part of

its meaning. As Ibn Taimiya has said,

ʹThe declaration of faith, ʺThere is no god but Allahʺ, requires you to love

only for the sake of Allah, to hate only for the sake of Allah, to ally

yourself only for the sake of Allah, to declare enmity only for the sake of

Allah; it requires you to love what Allah loves and to hate what Allah

50 Abridged from Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab, Kashaf ash‐Shubuhat, 3rd edition, p.20

hates.ʹ 51 It also requires you to ally yourself to the Muslims wherever you

find them and to oppose the disbelievers even if they are your closest

51 Ibn Taimiya, al‐Ihtijaj biʹl‐Qadar, p.62.

The Declaration of Faith: On the Tongue and in the Heart

According to Ibn al‐Qayim, belief in Divine Unity is not simply saying

that Allah is the sole Creator and that He is Lord and Master of all things. This

was what the pagans used to say, while at the same time worshipping many

gods. Belief in Divine Unity does not only mean love of Allah, but also

submission to Him, humility before Him, complete obedience to Him, and

devotion to Him alone. It means that we strive for His pleasure in all our words

and deeds, in what we hold on to and in what we give, in our love and in our

hate. It can never be confused with the urge to disobey, or to do what you please

Whoever takes this to heart will understand the words of the Prophet,

may Allah bless him and grant him peace,

"Certainly Allah has forbidden the Fire from taking whoever says,

ʺThere is no god but Allahʺ, and who says this for the pleasure of

"Whoever says, ʺThere is no god but Allahʺ, shall not enter the Fire.ʺ

So what do these reports really mean? Many people have misunderstood

them, going so far as to say that these statements were later abrogated, and that

they were made before the completion of the Shariʹa, before we knew what we

must and must not do. Others have said that the fire they refer to is the hell of the

disbelievers, while others still interpret the actual entering of the fire to mean

entering it for eternity; thus, ʹ...shall not enter the Fire (for eternity).ʹ These are

just a few of their baseless interpretations.

In fact, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, did not say

that this would occur merely by pronouncing the declaration of faith; this would

contradict our entire understanding of Islam. The hypocrites say these words

with their tongues, but they are bound for the deepest pit of Hell, and will be

punished even more severely than those who actively dispute the fact that there

is no other god than He. What is being referred to is, of course, a matter of both

the heart and the tongue.

While the heart must believe, it must also realize the truth: it must realize

the meaning of the words of the declaration of faith, of what they deny and what

52 Sahih Muslim, Kitab al‐Masajid, 1/356.

they affirm; realise that there is no other divinity than Allah; and realise that the

attribution of divinity to anything else is quite impossible. Thus its meaning

must be taken to heart consciously and deliberately, with certainty and urgency.

This is what protects you from the Fire.

This recalls the story of the man, who had murdered a hundred men, and

though faith arose in his heart he took no notice of it, pushing it out of his breast;