O you who believe, do not take your fathers, to the end of this [verse]: in other words, do not let the aspect of formal kinship and natural connection prevail in you over the aspect of spiritual kinship and real connection such that there would then be bewteen you and those from among your kin who prefer the veil to unveiling a friendship that results from a formal connection [but] with loss of spiritual connection and a difference in aspect which [in itself] necessarily brings about spiritual rupture and true enmity. This is a weakness of faith and feeble resolve: faith is the opposite of that. God, exalted be He, says: but those who believe love God more ardently [Q. 2:165]. A sage [once] said, 'The Truth is beloved to us and [His] creatures are beloved to us. But if the two are at variance, then the Truth is more beloved to us.
