—and by taking them as confidants and advisers.

Allah, exalted be He, says:
“O you who believe! Do not take as your intimate circle those who are not of you. They will spare no effort to corrupt you; they long for your ruin. Hatred has already shown itself through their mouths, but what their hearts conceal is far worse. We have certainly made the signs clear for you, if only you would reason. (118) Here you are—you love them, but they do not love you, though you believe in the whole Book. When they meet you they say, ‘We believe,’ but when they are alone they bite their fingertips at you in rage. Say: ‘Die in your rage; Allah is All-Knowing of what lies within the breasts.’ (119) If something good touches you, it grieves them; but if misfortune strikes you, they rejoice at it.” (Aal ʿImrān: 118–120)

These noble verses unveil the inner workings of the disbelievers: the hatred they harbor toward the Muslims, the plots and betrayals they devise against them, and the pleasure they take in harming the believers and inflicting every possible injury upon them. They also reveal how the disbelievers exploit the trust that some Muslims place in them, using that confidence to scheme against the community and strike at it whenever they can.