By DR. MOHAMED BIN ALI
To Daesh, the world is black and white, an “us versus them.†They divide the world into two opposing sides: the evil non-Muslim West and the victorious, “pure†Islamic world of true believers. In the mind of the Loyalty and DisavowalAl’-Wala’ wal Bara’extremists, the non-Muslim world is the fundamental enemy of all Muslims and thus must be defeated and destroyed. At the foundation of this worldview is their reinterpretation of a concept known as Al-Wala’ wal Bara’, or “loyalty and disavowal.†In its most fundamental definition, the concept of Al-Wala’ wal Bara’ simply means love of God and love of goodness and virtue, and distancing oneself from all forms of vice, evil, cruelty, and injustice. To Daesh, however, the binary concepts of “good†and “evil†are applied to “Muslims†and “non-Muslims,†respectively, such that the group harbors hatred for all non-Muslims and any Muslims who do not associate with them, viewing them to be the very embodiment of evil. This twisted narrative is concocted through the misquotation of a handful of phrases from the Qur’an and Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad.
The bond of wala’, or loyalty, is between a person and his Wali’ (loyal protector/ally—the plural is Awliya). The term is used in the Qur’an where believers are told that they should possess the bond of wala’ with God, the Prophet Muhammad, and their faith community: “Verily your true Wali’ is only Allah, His Messenger, and the (fellowship of) believers—those who establish regular prayers and regular charity and bow down humbly (in worship).†(5:55). This relationship among believers does not, however, entail hostility toward those outside the faith community. Rather, it is an Islamic principle that the goodness of faith manifests itself in the manner by which the faithful treat one another (akhlaq or moral character).
To Daesh, the concept of Al-Wala’ wal Bara’ is an important political instrument to rally others to their cause and increase their ranks. They argue that Muslims will lose their identity through association with outsiders, gradually assimilating foreign views and values. They argue that by failing to uphold Al-Wala’ wal Bara’, Muslims have allowed Islam to become contaminated with Western influences, blurring the lines between Muslims and non-Muslims. Through its distorted interpretation of Al-Wala’ wal Bara’, Daesh has incorrectly applied the practice of takfir to those who reject its violent ideology, thus justifying the slaughter of innocent Muslims and non-Muslims.
Daesh, however, does not like to portray itself as a “distorted†ideology—it claims to cite directly from the Qur’an and Sunnah. What Daesh has done, however, is to simply cherry-pick Qur’anic verses that were revealed in connection with very specific circumstances and misinterpret their meaning to justify their cause. That is why it is imperative to look at the social, historical, and political origins of the text when dealing with the sacred scriptures Daesh misquotes.
For example, Daesh commonly cites the verse, “O you who believe, take not my enemies and your enemies as Awliya, extending upon them affection while they have disbelieved in what came to you of the truth, having driven out the Prophet and yourselves [only] because you believe in God†(60:1). When one examines the historical context of the verse, it becomes abundantly clear that the “enemies†in this verse are the Quraysh who drove the Prophet and his followers from their homes in Mecca after years of relentless persecution, torture, and violence. Thus, the relationship of hostility between the Muslims and their violent Meccan oppressors is clearly case-specific and cannot logically be the template for relationships between Muslims and peaceful non-Muslims. This is explicitly stated in the very same chapter of the Qur’an: “As for those who do not kill you on account of your faith nor drive you from your homes, God does not prevent you from dealing with them with kindness and the utmost respect†(60:8).
Daesh also relies on another verse in the same chapter, which states:
There is certainly a good exemplar for you in Abraham and those who were with him, when they said to their own people, “Indeed we repudiate you and whatever you worship besides Allah. We disavow you, and between you and us there has appeared enmity and hate for ever, unless you come to have faith in Allah alone,†except for Abraham’s saying to his father, “I will surely plead forgiveness for you, though I cannot avail you anything against Allah†(60:4).
They misinterpret and misapply this verse to claim that, just as Abraham declared enmity and hate for his own people (who were polytheists), they should be hostile toward all those who do not believe in their cause—even their fellow Muslims. But this is another prime example of misquotation—the verse is instructing the followers of Muhammad to deal with the Quraysh in the same way that Abraham dealt with his people. The Prophet Abraham invited his followers to faith in One God and only showed hostility to his people after he discovered some were still practicing idolatry and polytheism. Thus, both verses are case-specific and cannot be used as a blanket claim for hostilities against anyone who disagrees with Daesh.
Another of the common verses that Daesh distorts and uses to legitimize their concept of Al-Wala’ wal Bara’ is verse 5:51, which states: “O you who have faith! Do not take the Jews and the Christians for allies; they are allies of each other. Any of you who allies with them is indeed one of them. Indeed Allah does not guide the wrongdoing lot.†Again this citation indicates a complete disregard for the social, historical, and political context in which the verse was revealed. It was revealed after some Jewish tribesmen broke the mutual defense and peace treaty known as the Pact of Medina by traveling to Mecca and forming an alliance with the Quraysh, thus leaving Muslims without anyone to trust but each other.
But citing this verse alone ignores the fact that the Prophet Muhammad did in fact reach out and seek to foster ties with the Jewish tribes of Medina through the Pact of Medina. Likewise, Daesh also chooses to ignore the instances when the Prophet and early Muslims sought relations with their Christian neighbors. A notable example of this is seen when the Najran (modern day Yemen) Christian delegation came to the Prophet to ask him about the new religion of Islam. Although they humbly rejected the Prophet’s message, the Prophet Muhammad invited the delegates into his own mosque and gave them protection while they performed their worship and rituals.
The Prophet also sent members of the early Muslim community to seek protection under the Christian King Negus in Abyssinia (modern-day Ethiopia). He is recorded to have said, “If you went to the land of the Abyssinians, you would find there a king under whose command nobody suffers injustice. It is a land of sincerity in religion.†The king granted absolute protection to the Muslim immigrants, even after the Meccan idolaters came to him requesting that he betray the Prophet and the early Muslims and send them back to Mecca.
This sort of peaceful coexistence between the three Abrahamic religions is encouraged in the Qur’an as well: “O mankind! Indeed We created you from a male and a female, and made you nations and tribes that you may identify yourselves with one another. Indeed the noblest of you in the sight of Allah is the most God-conscious among you. Indeed Allah is all-knowing, all-aware.†This verse is best exemplified during the Umayyad Dynasty in a place called Al-Andalus, or Muslim Spain, which was regarded as the leading cultural and economic center of the day. It was also an era of harmonious coexistence and cooperation between the three Abrahamic faiths.
If Islamic civilization is to be truly “revived,†which extremists claim as their goal, we must return to the tolerance that was once our shining hallmark. This will entail a return to the compassionate and welcoming example of the Prophet, who sought to build ties with other communities and foster peaceful dialogue. It will entail correcting extremists’ misuse of terms like Al-Wala’ wal Bara’, and preventing them from leading to the Muslim world into self-annihilation.
