goodness on Muslims. As a requirement of these moral values, Muslims
treat the people of the Book, who believe in Allah and His prophets,
with friendship and toleration. Allah has described the relations that
Muslims should enjoy with the people ofthe Book in a number of verses:
Among the people of theBook there are some who have faith in Allah and
in what has been sent down to you and what was sent down to them, and
who are humble before Allah. They do not sell Allah's Signs for a
paltry price. Such people will have their reward with their Lord. And
Allah is swift atreckoning. (Surah Al 'Imran, 199)
Allah does NOT FORBID you from BEING GOOD to those who have not fought
you in the religion or driven you from your homes, or from being just
towards them. Allah loves those who are just. (Surat al-Mumtahana, 8)
Those who have faith and those who are JEWS and the sabaeans and the
CHRISTIANS, all who have faith in Allah and the Last Day and act
rightly will FEEL NO FEAR and will KNOW NO SORROW. (Surat al-Ma'ida,
69)
As can be seen from these verses, Muslims adopt the friendly attitude
required by Qur'anic moral values toward the people of the Book. They
eat with the people of the Book, ask after their health, enjoy
friendly and brotherly relations with them, run to help when they fall
ill or are in needand give them alms if necessary. However, He has
also forbidden relations with the people of the Book "to be of such a
kind as might prevent Muslims living by their own beliefs." For that
reason, Muslims do not select individuals from the people of the Book
who might manage them, and do not come under their influence and never
accept their rules on the subject of religion. Allah has set this out
in verse 51 of Sura al-Ma'ida:
You who believe! Do nottake the Jews and Christians as your friends;
they are the friends of one another. Any of you who takes them as
friends is one ofthem. Allah does not guide wrongdoing people. (Surat
al-Ma'ida, 51)
The word "friends" appears two times in this verse. One of the Arabic
words for friend, "evliyau", means"protectors, those responsible
under the law, guardians, lords, owners, kings." The other word is
"Yatawallahum". This means "undertaking the care of, acting as a
ruler,assuming the management of." In other words, the word "friend"
in this verse appears in the sense of "manager." Allah tells Muslims
not to come under their (Christians and Jews) direction. (Prof. Dr.
Bayraktar Bayraklı,Text of the Qur'an)
Yaşar Nuri Öztürk interprets this verse about the people of the Book,
which commands Muslims not establish bonds of friendship in the sense
of "choosing a manager," as follows:
"Do not make Jews and Christians your leaders.The Qur'an calls on the
people of the Book to beintegrated with Muslims around the oneness of
Allah and wishes to expand the sphere of believers in Allah. This is
an international solidarity and togetherness based on universal
values. However, the Qur'an saysthat the people of the Book are not
to be takenas guides." (The Qur'an in Islam, Yaşar Nuri Öztürk, p.
474)
As can clearly be seen from this commentary, Muslims establish all
kinds of human friendship with the people of the Book but do not make
such people their leaders because their beliefs andculture may
conflict. Because developing sucha friendship and taking one of the
people of the Book as a guide would give rise to a contradiction here.
A Muslim cannot abide by such direction. He does not accept such a
friendship. If they acceptbeing under such an administration, Muslims
could end up becoming assimilated, it will be harder for them to live
by their beliefs and they might experience difficulties in performing
their religious observations. They might lose their cultures. But
Allah advises Muslims to establish a bond of friendship, brotherhood
and love, that excludes direction of that kind, with the people of the
Book.
In the Qur'an, Allah commands Muslims to make even those who ascribe
partners to Allah reach their destinations in safety. He advises them
to forgive murderers. When Allah enjoins such wide-ranging love,
affection, friendship andgoodness on Muslims, Healso, of course,
commands the establishment of such a bond with the people of the
Allah, who also believe in Him. Surah Al 'Imran reveals how the people
of the Book believe in Allah and the Day of Judgment, command what is
good and avoid what is evil, prostrate themselves in prayer and
compete to perform good deeds:
They are not all the same. There is a community among the People of
the Book who are upright. They recite Allah's Signs throughout the
night, and they prostrate. They have faith in Allah and the Last Day,
and enjoin the right and forbid the wrong, and compete in doing good.
They are among the true believers. You will not bedenied the reward
for any good thing you do. Allah knows those who have fear for Allah.
(Surah Al 'Imran, 113-115)
Muslims and the people of the Book are friends and are agreed on the
existence of Allah, Paradise and Hell. However, Muslims cannot support
their ideas that are based on polytheism and opposedto the Qur'an and
cannotestablish friendships with them on these matters. In that sense,
and as revealed in Surat al-Ma'ida, they cannot take them as their
guides if they are to freely abide by their beliefs and religious
obligations.
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