📘 O you who have faith, take not My enemy and your enemy as friends. “O you who have faith, who have seen the Messenger as truthful, and who have accepted My message with spirit and soul, do not take My enemy and your enemy as your friend. No enemy of yours is greater than the commanding soul. Beware lest you feel secure from it. Always be on guard against it.” MuṣṬafā said, “Your worst enemy is your soul that is between your two sides.” Your worst enemy is the disobedient soul. It always wants that in which is your loss. Anyone who lets the soul have what it wants is planting the seeds of his own remorse. Among the reports from David is this: “O David, be the enemy of your own soul, for no one in the empire contends with Me except it.” The soul [nafs] is dust-dwelling, terrestrial, and dark. It is a treacherous and deceiving enemy. Its root is from “rivalry” [tanāfus], and rivalry is the beginning of rancor, envy, hatred, and enmity. MuṣṬafā was not exaggerating when he said, “We have returned from the lesser struggle to the greater struggle.” He called war against Byzantium the smaller war and war against the soul the greater war. For, you can take Byzantium from the emperor with a small army, but you cannot take the soul from someone with all the friends on the face of the earth. This is because an unbeliever in Byzantium struggles face-to-face and shows impudence and wrath against the warriors and calls them to do improper acts. But the soul does not struggle face-to-face. It shows him affection and kindness and calls him to do honorable acts. This is why the men of religion's road leave aside many of the obedient acts, for they know that those are the decoys of the soul; a hunter catches birds with birds. AḤmad Khiẓrūya Balkhī said, “I had severely put down my soul with various sorts of disci- pline and struggle. One day it became elated by war. I was surprised, because the soul does not become elated by obedience. I asked myself what sort of deception was hidden there. Perhaps it could not put up with hunger, for I was always commanding it to fast. It wanted to travel so as to break its fast while traveling.

📘 (O ye who believe! When believing women come unto you as fugitives, examine them. Allah is Best Aware of their faith�) [60:10]. Ibn �Abbas said: �On the year of Hudaybiyyah, the idolaters of Mecca signed a peace treaty with the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace. This treaty stipulated that whoever of the people of Mecca runs away to him from them should be returned to them, and whoever of his Companions runs away to the people of Mecca will not be returned. They wrote the treaty and sealed it. Just after signing the treaty, Subay�ah bint al-Harith al-Aslamiyyah went to the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, while he was still at al-Hudaybiyyah. Her husband, who was an unbeliever came and said: �O Muhammad, return my wife to me, for you had agreed to return to us whoever runs away to you. The ink of the treaty has not dried yet�. Allah, exalted is He, then revealed this verse�. Al-Hasan ibn Muhammad al-Farisi informed us> Muhammad ibn �Abd Allah ibn al-Fadl> Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Hafiz> Muhammad ibn Yahya> Hasan ibn al-Rabi� ibn al-Khashshab> Ibn Idris> Muhammad ibn Ishaq> al-Zuhri who said: �I entered in on �Urwah ibn al-Zubayr while he was writing a letter to Ibn Hunaydah, the aid of al-Walid ibn �Abd al-Malik, in reply to his question about the words of Allah, exalted is He, (O ye who believe! When believing women come unto you as fugitives, examine them). He wrote to him: �The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, signed a peace treaty with the Quraysh on the day of al-Hudaybiyyah. The treaty stipulated that he should return to them whoever goes to him without the permission of his custodian. When women emigrated [from Mecca to the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace,] Allah, exalted is He, refused to turn them back to the idolaters after it has been ascertained that they had migrated for Islam. This examination consisted of giving back their dowers to the idolaters if they are kept back [with the Muslims], provided that the idolaters give back the dowers of the wives of Muslims who stayed back in Mecca�. He said: �That is the judgement of Allah with which He judges between them. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, therefore, kept back women and sent back to the Quraysh the men who had run away from them� �.

📘 (O ye who believe! Be not friendly with a folk with whom Allah is wroth�) [60:13]. This verse was revealed about some poor Muslims who used to inform the Jews of the news of Muslims and keep in touch with them. They got in exchange some of their fruits. And so Allah, glorified and exalted is He, warned them against this.

📘 (Verily ye have in them a goodly pattern for everyone who looketh to Allah and the Last Day�) [60:6-8]. Allah, exalted is He, says to the believers: �You have in Abraham as well as in the prophets and friends of Allah good role models, regarding their declaration of enmity towards their relatives who were idolaters, which should be emulated�. So when this verse was revealed, the believers declared their relatives who were idolaters to be their enemies. They showed this enmity to them and absolved themselves of all the things that they did or believed in. Allah, exalted is He, knew that this was hard on the believers and so He revealed (It may be that Allah will ordain love between you and those of them with whom ye are at enmity) [60:7]. And He did just that when many of them embraced Islam, thus becoming brothers and friends. Consequently, they mingled with and married from among each other. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, married Umm Habibah, the daughter of Abu Sufyan ibn Harb. As a result, Abu Sufyan mellowed a little. When he heard of the news of his daughter's marriage, he said while he was still an idolater: �He is an outstanding person, no harm shall come to him�. Abu Salih Mansur ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab al-Bazzaz informed us> Abu 'Amr Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Hiri> Abu Ya'la> Ibrahim ibn al-Hajjaj> 'Abd Allah ibn al-Mubarak> Mus'ab ibn Thabit> 'Ami ibn 'Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr> his father who said: �Qutaylah bint 'Abd al-'Uzza went to visit her daughter Asma' bint Abi Bakr and took with her gifts: desert lizards, clarified butter and dry cheese. However, Asma' refused to let her in her house and rejected her gifts. 'A'ishah went on behalf of Asma' to ask the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, about this. Allah, exalted is He, revealed (Allah forbiddeth you not those who warred not against you on account of religion) [60:8]. Asma' then let her mother into her house and accepted her gifts�. This was narrated by al-Hakim Abu 'Abd Allah in his Sahih> Abu'l-'Abbas al-Sayyari> 'Abd Allah al-Ghazal> Ibn Shaqiq> Ibn al-Mubarak.

📘 (Verily ye have in them a goodly pattern for everyone who looketh to Allah and the Last Day�) [60:6-8]. Allah, exalted is He, says to the believers: �You have in Abraham as well as in the prophets and friends of Allah good role models, regarding their declaration of enmity towards their relatives who were idolaters, which should be emulated�. So when this verse was revealed, the believers declared their relatives who were idolaters to be their enemies. They showed this enmity to them and absolved themselves of all the things that they did or believed in. Allah, exalted is He, knew that this was hard on the believers and so He revealed (It may be that Allah will ordain love between you and those of them with whom ye are at enmity) [60:7]. And He did just that when many of them embraced Islam, thus becoming brothers and friends. Consequently, they mingled with and married from among each other. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, married Umm Habibah, the daughter of Abu Sufyan ibn Harb. As a result, Abu Sufyan mellowed a little. When he heard of the news of his daughter's marriage, he said while he was still an idolater: �He is an outstanding person, no harm shall come to him�. Abu Salih Mansur ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab al-Bazzaz informed us> Abu 'Amr Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Hiri> Abu Ya'la> Ibrahim ibn al-Hajjaj> 'Abd Allah ibn al-Mubarak> Mus'ab ibn Thabit> 'Ami ibn 'Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr> his father who said: �Qutaylah bint 'Abd al-'Uzza went to visit her daughter Asma' bint Abi Bakr and took with her gifts: desert lizards, clarified butter and dry cheese. However, Asma' refused to let her in her house and rejected her gifts. 'A'ishah went on behalf of Asma' to ask the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, about this. Allah, exalted is He, revealed (Allah forbiddeth you not those who warred not against you on account of religion) [60:8]. Asma' then let her mother into her house and accepted her gifts�. This was narrated by al-Hakim Abu 'Abd Allah in his Sahih> Abu'l-'Abbas al-Sayyari> 'Abd Allah al-Ghazal> Ibn Shaqiq> Ibn al-Mubarak.

📘 (Verily ye have in them a goodly pattern for everyone who looketh to Allah and the Last Day�) [60:6-8]. Allah, exalted is He, says to the believers: �You have in Abraham as well as in the prophets and friends of Allah good role models, regarding their declaration of enmity towards their relatives who were idolaters, which should be emulated�. So when this verse was revealed, the believers declared their relatives who were idolaters to be their enemies. They showed this enmity to them and absolved themselves of all the things that they did or believed in. Allah, exalted is He, knew that this was hard on the believers and so He revealed (It may be that Allah will ordain love between you and those of them with whom ye are at enmity) [60:7]. And He did just that when many of them embraced Islam, thus becoming brothers and friends. Consequently, they mingled with and married from among each other. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, married Umm Habibah, the daughter of Abu Sufyan ibn Harb. As a result, Abu Sufyan mellowed a little. When he heard of the news of his daughter's marriage, he said while he was still an idolater: �He is an outstanding person, no harm shall come to him�. Abu Salih Mansur ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab al-Bazzaz informed us> Abu 'Amr Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Hiri> Abu Ya'la> Ibrahim ibn al-Hajjaj> 'Abd Allah ibn al-Mubarak> Mus'ab ibn Thabit> 'Ami ibn 'Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr> his father who said: �Qutaylah bint 'Abd al-'Uzza went to visit her daughter Asma' bint Abi Bakr and took with her gifts: desert lizards, clarified butter and dry cheese. However, Asma' refused to let her in her house and rejected her gifts. 'A'ishah went on behalf of Asma' to ask the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, about this. Allah, exalted is He, revealed (Allah forbiddeth you not those who warred not against you on account of religion) [60:8]. Asma' then let her mother into her house and accepted her gifts�. This was narrated by al-Hakim Abu 'Abd Allah in his Sahih> Abu'l-'Abbas al-Sayyari> 'Abd Allah al-Ghazal> Ibn Shaqiq> Ibn al-Mubarak.