آلِ عِمْرَان : ٢٨

  • لَّا (Let) not
  • يَتَّخِذِ take
  • ٱلۡمُؤۡمِنُونَ the believers
  • ٱلۡكَٰفِرِينَ the disbelievers
  • أَوۡلِيَآءَ (as) allies
  • مِن from
  • دُونِ instead of
  • ٱلۡمُؤۡمِنِينَۖ the believers
  • وَمَن And whoever
  • يَفۡعَلۡ does
  • ذَٰلِكَ that
  • فَلَيۡسَ then not he (has)
  • مِنَ from
  • ٱللَّهِ Allah
  • فِي [in]
  • شَيۡءٍ anything
  • إِلَّآ except
  • أَن that
  • تَتَّقُواْ you fear
  • مِنۡهُمۡ from them
  • تُقَىٰةٗۗ (as) a precaution
  • وَيُحَذِّرُكُمُ And warns you
  • ٱللَّهُ Allah
  • نَفۡسَهُۥۗ (of) Himself
  • وَإِلَى and to
  • ٱللَّهِ Allah
  • ٱلۡمَصِيرُ (is) the destination
Let not believers take disbelievers as allies [i.e., supporters or protectors] rather than believers. And whoever [of you] does that has nothing [i.e., no association] with Allāh, except when taking precaution against them in prudence.1 And Allāh warns you of Himself, and to Allāh is the [final] destination.
Footnotes
1 - When fearing harm from an enemy, the believer may pretend as long as his heart and intention are not affected.
Let not the believers take the disbelievers as patrons, rather than, that is, instead of, the believers - for whoever does that, that is, [whoever] takes them as patrons, does not belong to, the religion of, God in anyway - unless you protect yourselves against them, as a safeguard (tuqaatan, 'as a safeguard', is the verbal noun from taqiyyatan), that is to say, [unless] you fear something, in which case you may show patronage to them through words, but not in your hearts: this was before the hegemony of Islam and [the dispensation] applies to any individual residing in a land with no say in it. God warns you, He instills fear in you, of His Self, [warning] that He may be wrathful with you if you take them as patrons; and to God is the journey's end, the return, and He will requite you.