Tafseer of The Women · An-Nisaa · 4:144
O you who have believed, do not take the disbelievers as allies instead of the believers. Do you wish to give Allah against yourselves a clear case?
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of the words of the Exalted: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لا تَتَّخِذُوا الْكَافِرِينَ أَوْلِيَاءَ مِنْ دُونِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ أَتُرِيدُونَ أَنْ تَجْعَلُوا لِلَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ سُلْطَانًا مُبِينًا (4:144) (O you who believe, do not take the unbelievers (kāfir) as allies instead of the believers. Do you wish to furnish Allah with a clear proof against yourselves?)
Abū Jaʿfar said: This is a prohibition from Allah to His believing servants that they should not adopt the manners of the hypocrites (munāfiqūn) — those who take the unbelievers (kāfir) as allies instead of the believers — so that they do not become like them in committing that which He has forbidden them, namely befriending His enemies.
He, whose praise is exalted, says to them: O you who believe in Allah and His Messenger, form no friendship with the unbelievers, such that you would aid them instead of the people of your faith community and your religion among the believers, and thereby become like those among the hypocrites for whom the Fire (al-nār) has been made obligatory. Then He, whose praise is exalted, said, threatening the one among them who takes the unbelievers as allies instead of the believers, if he does not restrain himself from his friendship with them and is not deterred from his association with them — that He will make him join the people of their alliance, the hypocrites, whom He commanded His Prophet ﷺ to announce that there is for them a painful punishment (ʿadhāb): "do you wish" — O you who take the unbelievers as allies instead of the believers, from among those who have believed in Me and in My Messenger — "to furnish Allah with a clear proof against yourselves", that is to say: an argument (ḥujja), through your taking the unbelievers as allies instead of the believers, so that you would deserve from Him what the people of hypocrisy have deserved, whose character He has described to you and whose place with Him He has informed you of — "clear", that is to say: it makes its validity and truthfulness clear. He says: do not expose yourselves to the wrath of Allah by confirming the argument against yourselves in your rash acting against that which your Lord has forbidden you, namely befriending His enemies and the people who are unbelievers in Him.
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And as we have said concerning this, the people of exegesis have said.
* Mention of who said that:
10737 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda concerning: "O you who believe, do not take the unbelievers as allies instead of the believers. Do you wish to furnish Allah with a clear proof against yourselves", he said: To Allah belongs the authority (sulṭān) over His creatures, but He says: a clear justification.
10738 — Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Qabīṣa ibn ʿUqba related to us, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of a man, on the authority of ʿIkrima, he said: Everything that occurs in the Qurʾān as "sulṭān" (authority/proof), that means: an argument (ḥujja).
10739 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid concerning His words: "a clear proof (sulṭān)", he said: an argument (ḥujja).
10740 — Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, he said: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, the same.
