‘We believe.’ But when they are alone with one another, they say, ‘Do you tell them what Allah has revealed to you, so that they may use it to argue against you before your Lord? Will you not understand?’”

And He said:

“Have you not considered those who take as allies a people with whom Allah is angry? They belong neither to you nor to them.”

This was revealed concerning the hypocrites who took the Jews as allies. He said, “They are not of you”—nor are they of the Jews—“and they knowingly swear to lies.”

“Allah has prepared a severe punishment for them. Evil indeed is what they used to do.”

“They have taken their oaths as a shield and have turned people away from the way of Allah, so they will have a humiliating punishment,”

up to His saying:

“You will not find a people who believe in Allah and the Last Day showing affection to those who oppose Allah and His Messenger, even if they are their fathers, their sons, their brothers, or their kindred.”

And He said:

“Have you not considered the hypocrites who say to their brothers who disbelieve among the People of the Book, ‘If you are expelled, we will surely leave with you,’”

to the end of the account.

And He said:

“Indeed, those who turned back after guidance had become clear to them—Satan enticed them and filled them with false hopes.”

“That is because they said to those who hated what Allah sent down, ‘We will obey you in some matters.’ And Allah knows their secrets.”

This makes clear that taking the disbelievers as allies was the cause of their turning back. For this reason, in Surah al-Mā’idah He mentioned the leaders of the apostates after the prohibition against taking the disbelievers as allies, in His words:

“Whoever among you takes them as allies is indeed one of them.”

And He said:

“O Messenger, do not be grieved by those who hasten into disbelief, among those who say with their mouths, ‘We believe,’ but whose hearts do not believe, and among the Jews—avid listeners to lies, avid listeners to other people