Let not the believers take the disbelievers as friends, rather than the believers, for there is no correspondence between the two in reality. Friendship cannot be except in the case of similarity of genus and correspondence; for in that case the love between them [the believers and the disbelievers] could not be essential, rather it would be manufactured and artificial by virtue of its being a superficial show and an act of hypocrisy, which are traits far removed from truth as these are all veils of darkness, since if they [the believers] did not possess a darkness within them that corresponded to the state of disbelief they would not be able to mix or associate with them - for whoever does that, does not belong to God in anyway, that is, [he does not] belong to the friendship of God in anyway that he can rely on, since they possess no pure luminosity with which they would merit correspondence to the divine presence - unless you protect yourselves against them, as a safeguard, that is, unless you fear something from their part, in which case one must take precautions, in which you case you associate with them outwardly without there being any love for them in your hearts: but even that can only be as a result of the weakness of [your] certainty, for if certainty were to overtake their hearts, they would fear only God, exalted be He, and they would witness the significance of God's words: And if God afflicts you with some hurt, there is none who can remove it except Him; and if He desires good for you, there is none who can repel His bounty [Q. 10:107], and they would [in that case] fear none other than Him and hope for [the favour of] none other than Him, which is why He follows [this verse] with the words: And God warns you of His Self, that is, He calls you to the eyewitnessed affirmation of Oneness, so that your caution be against none other than His Self; and to God is the journey's end, so guard against none other than Him, for He is the One observing your innermost secrets and overt actions, the One Able to requite you if you were to associate with His enemies or to fear them, either secretly or openly.
