Do Not Take Them as Close Friends

Allah (swt) then addresses the people once more — for when there is a declared enemy, and there are people among you who are not careful about drawing too close to them, taking them as friends and partners — hence the warning, again, in verse 51:

O you who believe, do not take the Jews and the Christians as close friends. They are friends of one another. That was the position at that time: it was very dangerous to be their friend, because they either had spies, or obtained information through certain hypocrites, certain well-wishers, and people of that kind. Hence, in a situation of that kind, whoever follows that course, or forms an association of that kind, will be of them — guilty in the same way.

Allah then speaks of the munāfiqīn — the people with sickness in their hearts, who went about causing trouble. Allah (swt) speaks of them; one sees a great many of the munāfiqīn, and in a sense one feels real pity for them, because they were neither here nor there. Some of them held a bitter belief; but what some would then do was to remain with the Muslims while declining to denounce the other parties. They would, for example, stay on friendly terms with the Jews, even though by that time the Jews were, in some cases, sworn enemies. The advantage, the motive — as with ʿAbdullāh ibn Ubayy ibn Salūl, one of the chief munāfiqīn — was to make sure of being covered both ways: should the Jews prevail, or the other tribes prevail, he at least would be safe. That comes of having no yaqīn. The Muslims had yaqīn that we shall succeed:

They had that conviction. In these others, Islam had not fully entered the heart.