they would not have taken them as allies.”

He, glorified be He, has made clear that faith has necessary implications and actual opposites: it entails the presence of its necessary implications and the absence of its opposites. Among its opposites are showing affection to those who oppose Allah and His Messenger, and seeking his permission to abstain from jihad. He then explicitly states that such requests for permission come only from those who do not believe in Allah and the Last Day. His saying,

“And Allah knows well those who fear Him,”

indicates that those who fear Him are the believers.

The Prophet’s following sayings fall into the same category:

“One who commits unlawful sexual intercourse is not a believer while committing it.”

“He whose neighbor is not safe from his harm does not believe.”

“You will not believe until you love one another.”

“None of you believes until I am dearer to him than his child, his father, and all people.”

“None of you believes until he loves for his brother the good that he loves for himself.”

“Whoever cheats us is not one of us, and whoever takes up arms against us is not one of us.”