Title: The Relationship of Muslims with their Rejecting Parents & siblings - Al-Taubah 9: 23 Question: One of the objections raised by Ibn Warraq (http://www.secularhumanism.org/wtc.htm) is that in Al-Taubah 9: 23, the Qur'an says that Muslims cannot be friends with parents/siblings if they are not believers. Please explain the referred verse of the Qur'an. Nexus Answer: Before answering your specific question, it seems necessary to clarify that one of the common features of all the Abrahamic religions is the overriding priority of one's relationship with God over any other relationship. All worldly relations are subordinate to and effected by our relationship with God. Enemies of God, whether they are our brothers, sisters or parents, are our enemies. Our natural love for these relations is subordinate to our conscious ideological attachment with the Truth and all other values that God wants us to develop within ourselves. Thus, the Qur'an ( Al-Mumtahinah 60: 1) says: Believers do not take my enemies and your enemies as friends. You offer them your affection, while they have rejected the Truth, which has come to you [through God's Messenger]; [and then] turning the Messenger and yourselves out [of your houses] merely because you believed in God as your Lord. The Qur'an also tells us that the epitome of the prescribed behavior, in this respect, was that of Abraham (pbuh) and his companions. The Qur'an ( Al-Mumtahinah 60: 4) says: Indeed, in Abraham and those who were with him is an excellent example for you: When they said to their people: "We are clear of you and of whatever you worship besides God. We have rejected you, and there has arisen, between us and you, enmity and hatred forever, unless you believe in God alone [as your Lord]. Thus, it was the precisely the same spirit with which Moses commanded his followers to kill their own brothers and relatives with their own hands, who were guilty of idolatry, rejecting God's guidance. Deuteronomy 32: 27 - 29 reads as: Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, "Who is on the Lord's side? Come to me!" And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. He said to them, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'Put your sword on your side, each of you! Go back and forth from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill your brother, your friend, and your neighbor.'" The sons of Levi did as Moses commanded, and about three thousand of the people fell on that day. Moses said, "Today you have ordained yourselves for the service of the LORD [that is, revived your pledge of obedience to God], each one at the cost of a son or a brother, and so have brought a blessing on yourselves this day." It was precisely the same spirit with which Jesus (pbuh) declared: Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one's foes will be members of one's own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me... (Matthew 10: 34 - 37) And it is precisely in this spirit that in Al-Taubah 9: 23, the Qur'an declares: Believers, do not take your fathers and your siblings as your friends, if they prefer rejection over belief [in the Truth]. I hope this would clarify the verse as well as the significance of the message, entailed in the verse, for the believers. Regards, Moiz Amjad October 6, 2001