As for His words,
“Those who have believed yet have not emigrated—you have no duty of loyalty toward them until they emigrate” (al-Anfāl 8:72),
this refers to inheritance. When the believers first emigrated to Madinah, Allah—exalted is He—ruled that they were not to inherit from one another except on account of the emigration. Thus, if a man died in Mecca leaving as next of kin someone who had emigrated with the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, that Emigrant would not inherit from him.
Hence His saying,
“Those who have believed yet have not emigrated—you have no duty of loyalty toward them until they emigrate,”
i.e., no share of their inheritance “until they emigrate.”
But when the number of Emigrants increased, Allah returned that inheritance to their blood relatives, whether they had emigrated or not. He said:
“Those who are bound by ties of kinship are closer to one another, in the Book of Allah, than other believers and the Emigrants” (al-Aḥzāb 33:6).
As for His words,
“The believing men and believing women are allies of one another” (al-Tawbah 9:71),
this refers to religious allegiance: the believer supports and befriends another believer in matters of faith.
= In the verse, “The believing men and the believing women are allies of one another” (Q 9:71), the word walaya refers to mutual support, assistance, cooperation, and solidarity; Muslims are like a single structure whose parts reinforce one another, like one body which, when a limb is afflicted, the rest of the body shares its sleeplessness and fever.
This kind of walaya is not what is negated in the statement, “You have no walaya with them in anything” (Q 8:72). The proof lies in the Lord’s own clarification immediately afterward: “But if they seek your help in religion, it is your duty to help them” (Q 8:72). By affirming the walaya of aid right after denying walaya, the text shows that the walaya negated is different from the walaya of support, and the apparent contradiction disappears.
Second view: Ibn Kathir restricts himself to it, citing a hadith reported by Imam Ahmad and Muslim, which explains that “you have no walaya with them in anything” means: you have no share in the spoils or in its one-fifth unless you were present at the battle. On this reading, the verse poses no problem and may still be taken as general, negating both mutual inheritance and any portion of the booty and khums for those absent from combat. Allah knows best. See: Dafʿ Iham al-Idtirab, 1/99-100.