WALA AND BARA

So-called Islamic preachers and writers often portray Islam as a religion of peace that teaches Muslims to live with kuffar in peace. Deluded by the open-ended concept of “tolerance,” they cite numerous āyah and ahādīth that – rightfully so – serve to demonstrate that racial hatred has no place in Islam, but they do so for the purpose of advancing an agenda that attempts to “Islamize” more “liberal” concepts that the kuffār apply across the board for achieving evil, such as political pluralism, freedom of religion, and acceptance of sodomites.

Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says:

Let not the believers take the disbelievers as Auliya (supporters, helpers) instead of the believers, and whoever does that will never be helped by Allah in any way, except if you indeed fear danger from them. And Allah warns you against Himself (His punishment), and to Allah is the final return.

(Surah Al Imran 3:28)

In doing so, these “du’āt” seek to encourage the kāfir societies they live in to be more accepting of them, rather than meeting the enmity of the mushrikīn with hatred and disavowal.

Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says:

O you who believe! Take not as your advisors, consultants, protectors, helpers, or friends those outside your religion since they will not fail to do their best to corrupt you. They desire to harm you severely. Hatred has already appeared from their mouths, but what their breasts conceal is far worse. Indeed, We have made plain to you the verses if you understand

(Surah Al Imran 3:118)

These “du’āt” ignore misuse the concept of walā’ and barā’ (loyalty and disavowal for the cause of Allah), not bothering to educate their readers of the Muslim’s obligation to reject kufr, separate himself from the kuffār, abandon their lands, harbor enmity and hatred towards them, and wage war against them until they submit to the truth.

Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says:

There has already been for you an excellent pattern in Ibrahim and those with him, when they said to their people, “Indeed, we are disassociated from you and from whatever you worship other than Allah. We have denied you, and there has appeared between us and you animosity and hatred forever until you believe in Allah alone”

(Surah Al Mumtahanah 60:4)

The example of Ibrahim (عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَام) and those with him – meaning the prophets of Allah, as mentioned by the scholars of tafsīr – which was praised by Allah as being an excellent example for us to follow, is for one to be prepared to reject his own people when they fall into kufr and shirk, and not to remain attached to them on account of tribal or blood ties.

If this is the case with one’s own people with whom a common lineage is shared, how much more so in the case of those with whom one shares nothing more than a superficial characteristic such as skin color!

Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says:

O you who believe! Take not as Auliya’ (supporters and helpers) your fathers and your brothers if they prefer disbelief to Belief. And whoever of you does so, then he is one of the Zalimun (wrong-doers)

(Surah At Tawbah 9:23)

Islamic perspective is to show the importance and significance of walā’ and barā’, and to state in clear and certain way that those who wage war against Islam and the Muslims will not be spared on account of their skin color or ethnicity.

Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says:

Those who take disbelievers as allies instead of the believers. Do they seek with them honor [through power]? But indeed, honor belongs to Allah entirely

(Surah An Nisa 4:139)

The fate of a kāfir waging war against the Muslims is one and the same across the entire racial spectrum – slaughter. The reason for this is simple:

A Muslim’s loyalty is determined, not by his skin color, his tribal affiliation, or his last name, but by his faith. He loves those whom Allah loves and hates those whom Allah hates. He forges alliances for the cause of Allah and breaks relations for the cause of Allah.

Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says:

O you who believe! Take not My enemies and your enemies as friends, showing affection towards them, while they have disbelieved in what has come to you of the truth, and have driven out the Messenger and yourselves (from your homeland) because you believe in Allah your Lord! If you have come forth to strive in My Cause and to seek My Good Pleasure, (then take not these disbelievers and polytheists as your friends). You show friendship to them in secret, while I am All-Aware of what you conceal and what you reveal. And whosoever of you (Muslims) does that, then indeed he has gone (far) astray from the Straight Path

(Surah Al Mumtahana 60:1)

The mufassir of the Ummah, ‘Abdullāh Ibn ‘Abbās (رضي الله عنه) said,

“Love for the sake of Allah, hate for the sake of Allah, make allegiance for the sake of Allah, and make enemies for the sake of Allah, for the wilāyah (loving guardianship) of Allah is not attained except by this. One will not find the taste of īmān, even if his prayer and fasting is great, until he is like this”

(Reported by Ibn Al Mubārak in “Az-Zuhd” and by Al Lālikā’ī)

Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says:

You see many of them taking the disbelievers as their Auliya’. Evil indeed is that which their own selves have sent forward before them; for that (reason) Allah’s Wrath fell upon them, and in torment they will abide

(Surah Al Maaida 5:80)

The statement of Ibn ‘Abbās (رضي الله عنه) echoes that made by the Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم) when declaring walā’ and barā’ to be the strongest bond of faith.

Al Bara Ibn Āzib (رضي الله عنه) said that they were sitting with the Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم) when he (صلى الله عليه و سلم) asked,

“What bond of Islam is the strongest?” They said, “The prayer.”

He (صلى الله عليه و سلم) said, “It is good, but it is not it.” They said, “The zakāh.”

He (صلى الله عليه و سلم) said, “It is good, but it is not it.” They said, “Fasting Ramadan.”

He (صلى الله عليه و سلم) said, “It is good, but it is not it.” They said, “The hajj.”

He (صلى الله عليه و سلم) said, “It is good, but it is not it.” They said, “Jihād.”

He (صلى الله عليه و سلم) said, “It is good, but it is not it. Indeed, the strongest bond of Islam is to love for the sake of Allah and hate for the sake of Allah”

(Musnad Imām Ahmad and others)

It was this principle – the strongest and most firm bond of Islam – that led Abū Bakr As Siddiq (رضي الله عنه) to spend an enormous quantity of wealth in order to purchase the Ethiopian slave Bilal (رضي الله عنه) and set him free.

When Bilal’s owner Umayyah ridiculed Abū Bakr at the conclusion of the transaction stating that he would have sold him for one tenth of the price they’d agreed on, Abū Bakr answered in angry way that if Umayyah had demanded ten times the agreed price he would have paid it.

Years later, Abū Bakr and 300 other Arabs would march forth in the Battle of Badr alongside the former Ethiopian slave striking the necks of their own people.

That day would be referred thereafter as the Day of Furqān, the day that Allah divided between truth and falsehood at the hands of a people who slay and imprison their own people for the cause of Allah.

No day before it made it clearer that all past relations were broken, leaving only one bond remaining – the bond between a believing Muslim and his brother, regardless of race or ethnicity.

Thus, it was not strange to the believers to hear the Prophet

(صلى الله عليه و سلم) declare that his own father, as well as his closest uncle, Abū Tālib, were both disbelievers who would be punished by Allah in Hell, while also stating that he had heard Bilal’s footsteps in Jannah.

The Muhājirīn and Ansār have recognized that their strength is in their unity upon tawhīd, not in any racial affiliations. The words of Shaykh Abū Mus’ab Az Zarqawi (رحيم الله) who once stated,

“We perform jihād so that Allah’s word becomes supreme and the religion becomes completely for Allah.

Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says:

And fight them until there is no fitnah and [until] the religion, all of it, is for Allah

(Surah Al Anfāl 8:39)

Everyone who opposes this goal or stands in the path of this goal is an enemy to Islam and should be dealt with, whatever his name may be and whatever his lineage may be.

Religion that Allah revealed to be a scale and a judge. Its statement is decisive and its judgment is not amusement. Islamic laws are Qur’anic, and the judgments are upon the prophetic tradition.

Muslims must come together and wage war against the tawāghīt. Their fierce loyalty towards one another is rooted in their īmān in Allah and their disbelief in the tāghūt.

Allah brought the believers hearts together, and thus, they became

brothers by His grace, loving each other for the sake of Allah, standing in a single trench, defending and guarding each other, and sacrificing themselves for one another.

Their blood mixed and became one, under a single flag and goal, in one pavilion, enjoying this blessing, the blessing of faithful brotherhood. If kings were to taste this blessing, they would abandon their kingdoms and

fight over this grace.

Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says:

Indeed, the earth belongs to Allah. He causes to inherit it whom He wills of His servants. And the [best] outcome is for the righteous

(Surah Al A’rāf 7:128)

Indeed, racism is a tool of Shaytān, which, like nationalism, is intended to divide and weaken the children of Adam and prevent them from uniting upon the truth.

For just as nationalists would never wage jihād beyond their borders to spread Islam to the corners of the earth and wipe out shirk, likewise racists would not be inclined to disavow any members of their race except for those whom they deem “self-hating,” let alone fight them for the sake of raising high the word of Allah.

The Muslim, however, does not accept the Ummah remaining divided in the name of petty concepts, for he recognizes that the only acceptable line of division is that which separates between a Muslim and a kāfir, whereas any other course of division would only be a source of weakness.

Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says:

And do not dispute and [thus] lose courage and [then] your strength would depart

(Surah Al Anfāl 8:46)

It’s important to note that the forces of kufr and apostasy have understood that they are further weakened when divided. As such, they regularly hasten to set aside their differences for the sake of waging war against the truth.

Shaytān incites the children of Adam to split and divide along racial, ethnic, and tribal lines in order to divert them from maintaining the firm bond of walā’ and barā’, so too does he incite them to set aside such petty differences for the sake of uniting them in waging war against Islam.

And as Allah informs us, the answer to any coalition of disbelievers seeking to wage war against Islam and the Muslims is for the Ummah to strengthen its walā’ and barā’.

Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says:

And those who disbelieved are allies of one another. If you do not do so, there will be fitnah on earth and great corruption

(Surah Al Anfāl 8:73)

So, let every Muslim who wishes to taste the sweetness of walā’ and barā’ follow the example of Ibrahim (عليه والسلام) and declare enmity towards the kuffār amongst his own people – whether black, white, Arab, or non-Arab – and then march forth and wage war against them with whatever means are available to