Playing God

"All rights of this book are reserved for the publisher and the author. This copy is for reading purpose only. This copy cannot be uploaded on any website except those of the publisher and the author." Playing God: Misreading a Divine Practice 50 should never make friends with non-Muslims; in fact, they should show hostility and venom towards them: j ?^B1 -K F? a8 3 -@ F! < 1 ?^B1 1GqW! )| :zy( Believers should not make friends with the disbelievers lea ving aside the believers. (3:28) Similar verses read: j ?^B1 -K F ? a8 3 -@ F! < 1 -GqWJ ?n F!G 2!@ ! 3H? I k 1 + 3 J 1 @ - ! J@ )$: &$$ ( Believers! Do not make friends with the disbelievers leaving aside the believers. Do you wish to offer God an open argument against yourselves? (4:144) +25 a8 3 -@ ~7 c - K 231 -GqWJ ?n F!G 2!@ ! ? I;< + ? +2 W! F?- >— …8 3 -@ +2 )(: (&( Believers! Take not these Jews and the Christians for your friends. They are but friends to each other. And he amongst you who turns to them [for friendship] is of them. (5:51) A deliberation on the context of these verses will show that they were revealed in Mad ī nah in that phase vol. 2 (Beirut: D ā r ihy ā ’ al-tur ā th al-‘arab ī , 1405 AH), 288; Ab ū al-Fad ā ’ Ism ā ‘ ī l ibn ‘Umar ibn Kath ī r, Tafs ī r Al-Qur’ ā n Al-‘Az ī m , 1 st ed., vol. 2 (Lahore: Amjad Academy, 1982), 68. www.javedahmadghamidi.com www.al-mawrid.org