Fawāids |Qur'ān | Authentic Sunnah

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Question: “You mentioned in one of your fatwās, in the course of interpreting the noble verse ﴾You will not find a people who believe in Allāh and the Last Day having affection for those who oppose Allāh and His Messenger﴿ [al-Mujādilah: 22] — the full verse — that whoever loves the disbelievers and has affection for them is a disbeliever [kāfir] with a disbelief [kufr] that removes [him] from the [Islamic] religion [millah]. I therefore hope you will clarify this, and [also clarify] whether the disbelievers referred to are those who are at war with the Muslims.”

Answer: “Yes — whoever loves the disbelievers — [whether they are] Jews, Christians, or polytheists [mushrikīn] — even if they are under a covenant [ʿahd] and are not at war [with the Muslims] — whoever loves them for their religion, [expressing] satisfaction with their religion, cooperating with them in the interests of their religion, and the like — then he is [a disbeliever] like them.

As for one who loves a people with a specific [type of] love because they gave him such-and-such, or because they are relatives and he loves them for their kinship, not for their religion — this is a major sin.

But if he loves them for their religion, their morals, and what they are upon, and prefers them over the Muslims, and considers them to be upon guidance and upon good — then this is — and we seek refuge in Allāh — manifest apostasy and manifest disbelief. We ask Allāh for wellbeing.

For muwālāh [alliance/allegiance] is of two kinds:

[The first] muwālāh: meaning love [mahabbah], support, and backing of them against the Muslims, and satisfaction with their religion and their morals — this is major disbelief.

And [the second] kind: a person may love some people due to kinship, or because [a woman] is his wife from the People of the Scripture, or because she is a relative whom he loves and for whom he supplicates for guidance and the like — but he does not love their religion, nor is he satisfied with their religion, nor does he take them as allies upon [the basis of] their religion. This is a deficient love, a specific [type of] love on account of kinship or some other tie. This love diminishes his religion and weakens his religion, and it is obligatory upon him to hate them for the sake of Allāh and to have enmity toward them for the sake of Allāh. However, this does not constitute major apostasy; rather it is less than that. We ask Allāh for safety [salāmah].”

(https://binbaz.org.sa/fatwas/2460/%D8%AD%D9%83%D9%85-%D9%85%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%83%D9%81%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D9%88%D9%85%D8%AD%D8%A8%D8%AA%D9%87%D9%85)