Author Archives: Ikram Hawramani

Ikram Hawramani

About Ikram Hawramani

The creator of IslamicArtDB.

IslamQA: On which scholar’s opinions to follow and scholarly consensus (ijmāʿ)

I don't mean to offend you in any way but I just want to know (because I find other Islamic sources different from your answers sometimes). But I'm wondering when people ask you a certain thing on your blog , do you go after the scholars who give the fatwas/explanations that sounds most logic or do you go after the consensus of the scholars (إجماع) ? Example of this is the issue of apostasy which you disagreed with. Also that kuffar isn't just non-muslims. Could you please clear this up. Thanks.

There is no consensus among the scholars about the concept of ijmāʿ (“consensus”), making it little more than a rhetorical tool used to make one’s own opinion appear stronger despite the existence of disagreement from other scholars. According to Ahmad ibn Hanbal, the only true ijmāʿ is consensus among the Companions of the Prophet Muhammad on some matter as recorded in the books of hadith. While I do not belong to Ibn Hanbal’s school, this is perhaps the best opinion on this matter. If all of the Companions of the Prophet agreed that the prayer should be done a certain way, then we have to follow their opinion (in reality, there was also great disagreement among the Companions regarding various issues within Islam after the death of the Prophet Muhammad).1

There is no such thing as consensus among the Muslims on most things unless you intentionally cut out those who disagree. When it comes to most matters, the general opinion of the ʿulemāʾ is good enough to follow, since we cannot research every single issue within Islam to find out the best opinions about it. The ʿulemāʾ have done this hard work for us and if they think something should be a certain way, then what they is generally safe to follow.

However, there is nothing in Islam that asks us to shut down our critical thinking ability. The Quran constantly asks us to use our reasoning ability, to question things, to find out things for ourselves. Islam is not supposed to have a priesthood who do the religious thinking for everyone else (although this is what some of the ʿulemāʾ claim to be their place in Islamic societies). We Muslims are one community and there are no class distinctions between us. The ʿulemāʾ help the community as repositories of knowledge, but they are not rulers, politically or intellectually, who tell everyone else what to think. The Quran never denies a person’s right to think for themselves and to use their reasoning ability. There is nothing in the Quran to give a small number of Muslims (the self-elected ʿulemāʾ) to become the brains of everyone else by claiming to agree with another.

If the ʿulemāʾ say there is agreement on a subject, all it takes is to find one single disagreeing scholar to prove what they say false; that there is no agreement. In the early Islamic period, in the era of Imam Malik (711 – 795 CE), scholars, instead of shutting down discussion by claiming consensus, acted the exact opposite way; a single disagreeing voice was considered sufficient to establish an equally valid opinion on a matter (see Shaykh Umar Abd-Allah’s Mālik and Medina). So if most of the ʿulemāʾ agree on some thing, but there are a few good and honorable ʿulemāʾ  who have a different opinion, their alternative opinion, according to the thinkers of early Islam, is just as valid as the majority opinion. The early Islamic scholars followed the principle of riʿāyat al-ikhtilāf (“mindfulness of dissent”). Instead of attacking those who disagreed with the majority, they wrote down their opinions (in books like al-Muwaṭṭaʾ and al-Mudawwanah) as forming valid alternatives.

That open-minded scholarly culture of early Islam is the correct and proper way to practice Islam, as opposed to the scholarly culture of groupthink of the past few centuries where dissenters were attacked instead of being respected.

At this point the criticism can be mentioned that if we follow minority opinions this can cause a breakdown in Muslim societies where everyone follows random opinions. That would only be true if we were robot-like creatures whose brains had to be programmed by the scholars. In reality, humans who in good conscience try to find out the truth about things and who listen to the scholars and follow the best opinions they hear are bound to be rightly guided. If we believe in the Quran’s teachings and try to follow them in good faith, then that is most of Islam. It would be extremely unjust to call a Muslim evil and misguided despite the fact that they read the Quran and do their best to follow it just because they differ from us in some opinions.

The reality of Muslim societies today is sufficient to support my opinion. Talk to any devout Muslim and you will find that they have various personal opinions that disagree with the commonly accepted ones. They continue to be faithful and devout and continue to belong to the Muslim community. This was also the experience of Imam Malik’s community; there was strong disagreement on most issues inside Medina and outside it. Instead of this leading to hatred and division, people continued to respect each other and the community was united around the core teachings of Islam without using the side issues as causes for division. This is how unity is achieved: by agreeing on a small number of things (the core teachings of Islam) and respecting people’s right to disagree on everything else.

There is no such thing as kind-hearted and well-intentioned people who read the Quran and the Sunnah and follow the best opinions they hear from the scholars and who are evil and misguided (as takfīrī Wahhabis think there are). This type of thinking assumes that God does not exist; that He is happy to watch humans go to ruin even though they believe in Him, worship Him, pray to Him and read His Book. This, of course, is pure fantasy; it is an invention of those who wish to imply that only they are the truly guided ones. This gives them the moral right to attack, defame and even murder those who disagree with them.

At this point I should mention a hadith much abused by takfīrīs in which it is mentioned that the Muslims will separate into 73 sects and that all of them will enter the Hellfire except one. It is generally accepted that the part that says “all of them will be thrown into Hell save one” is a fabrication added to the hadith later on.

Amanaat (Name)

Amanaat (transliteration: Amānāt, Arabic: أمانات) is an Arabic name for girls that means “deposits”, “trusts” (i.e. entrusted things), things left with someone for safekeeping.12 It is the plural of amānāh.

Amanaat may also be spelled as Amaanaat, Amanat and Amaanat

The word Amanaat is used in four places in the Quran, such as:

O you who believe! Do not betray God and the Messenger, nor betray your trusts, while you know.3

And those who honor their trusts and their pledges.

Below is the name Amanaat written in Arabic naskh script:

Below is the name Amanaat written in Arabic kufi script:

Ama (Name)

Ama (transliteration: Amah, Arabic: أمة) is an ancient Arabian name for girls that means “female slave”.1 It can also mean “devoted worshiper of God”.2 It is the feminine equivalent of the ancient boy name Abd. The word Ama is usually added to one of the names of God to create composite name, such as Amatullah (made up of Ama and Allah), meaning “servant/slave of God”, similar to the way Abd is added to one of the names of God to create names like Abdullah.

The name Ama is no longer used by itself, we are only adding it here for completeness.

There are four Sahabiyyat (Companions of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him) named Ama:

  • Ama bint Abi al-Hakam al-Ghifariyyah أمة بنت أبي الحكم الغفارية
  • Ama bint Khalid bin Sa`eed أمة بنت خالد بن سعيد
  • Ama bint Khaleefah أمة بن خليفة
  • Ama daughter of al-Farsiyyah أمة ابنة الفارسية

Below is the name Ama written in Arabic naskh script:

Below is the name Ama written in Arabic kufi script:

Amad (Name)

Amad (transliteration: Amad, Arabic: أمد) is an Arabic name for boys that means “extent”, “duration”, “scope”, “time frame”.12. Amad can also mean “anger”.34

There is one Companion of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) named Amad:

  • Amad bin Abad al-Hadhrami أمد بن أبد الحضرمي

The word Amad is used in four places in the Quran. Below are two examples:

Then We awakened them to know which of the two groups could better calculate the length [of time] of their stay.5

Say, “I do not know whether what you are promised is near, or whether my Lord will extend it for a period.”6

Below is the name Amad written in Arabic naskh script:

Below is the name Amad written in Arabic kufi script:

 

Alqama (Name)

Alqama (transliteration: ʿAlqamah, Arabic: علقمة) is an Arabic name for boys that refers to a fruit of a plant known al-ḥanẓal (known as bitter apple and desert gourd in English, scientific name Citrullus colocynthis).12 It is also used to mean “bitterness”.34

Alqama may also be spelled Alqamah and Alkama.

There are 30 Companions of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) named Alqama, below is their full names:

  • Alqama bin al-Arth al-Absi علقمة بن الأرث العبسي
  • Alqama bin Aslam bin Marthad علقمة بن أسلم بن مرقد
  • Alqama bin al-A`war al-Sulami علقمة بن الأعور السلمي
  • Alqama bin Junadah علقمة بن جنادة
  • Alqama bin Hajib bin Zurarah bin Ads al-Tamimi علقمة بن حاجب بن زرارة بن عدس التميمي
  • Alqama bin al-Harith علقمة بن الحارث
  • Alqama bin Hajar علقمة بن حجر
  • Alqama bin Hakeem al-Furasi علقمة بن حكيم الفراسي
  • Alqama bin Hawshab al-Ghaffari علقمة بن حوشب الغفاري
  • Alqama bin al-Huwairith al-Ghaffari علقمة بن الحويرث الغفاري
  • Alqama bin Khalid bin al-Harith علقمة بن خالد بن الحارث
  • Alqama bin Rabee`ah bin al-A`war علقمة بن ربيعة بن الأعور
  • Alqama bin Rimthah al-Balawi علقمة بن رمثة البلوي
  • Alqama bin Zayd علقمة بن زيد
  • Alqama bin Sa`d bin Mu`adh al-Ansari علقمة بن سعد بن معاذ الأنصاري
  • Alqama bin Sa`eed bin al-Aasi bin Umayyah علقمة بن سعيد بن العاصي بن أمية
  • Alqama bin Sufyan علقمة بن سفيان
  • Alqama bin Samaa al-Khawlani علقمة بن سمى الخولاني
  • Alqama bin Talhah bin Abi Talhah al-Abdari علقمة بن طلحة بن أبي طلحة العبدري
  • Alqama bin Ulathah bin Awf علقمة بن علاثة بن عوف
  • Alqama bin al-Qawaa’ bin Ubaid علقمة بن القَواء بن عُبيد
  • Alqama bin Qais علقمة بن قيس
  • Alqama bin Mujazziz علقمة بن مجزّز
  • Alqama bin Najiyah bin al-Harith bin al-Mustafa al-Khuza`i علقمة بن ناجية بن الحارث بن المصطفى الخزاعي
  • Alqama bin al-Nadhr علقمة بن النضر
  • Alqama bin Hawdhah bin Shamas علقمة بن هوذة بن شماس
  • Alqama father of Samak علقمة والد سماك
  • Alqama bin Waqqas bin Muhsin علقمة بن وقاص بن محصن
  • Alqama bin Yazeed bin Amr علقمة بن يزيد بن عمرو
  • Alqama bin Yazeed al-Aqbi علقمة بن يزيد العقبي

Below is the name Alqama written in Arabic naskh script:

Below is the name Alqama written in Arabic kufi script:

Ali (Name)

Ali (transliteration: ʿAlī, Arabic: عليّ) is an Arabic name for boys that means “strong”, “fierce”.1. Its literal meaning is “lofty”, “exalted”, “sublime”, “great in rank”.23 Ali is the name of the fourth Rashidun caliph, who was also a cousin of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and married to the Prophet’s daughter Fatima. There are also many other Companions of the Prophet Muhammad named Ali, listed below. Ali is also one of the names of God in Islam, used in multiple places in the Quran.4

The name Ali may also be spelled Alee, Aly and Eli.

Below are two examples of verses of the Quran in which the word Ali is used:

That is because God is the Reality, and what they invoke besides Him is vanity, and because God is the Sublime, the Grand.5

That is because God is the Reality, and what they worship besides Him is falsehood, and because God is the Exalted, the Supreme.6

There are 17 Companions of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) named Ali. Their full names are as follows:

  • Ali bin Abi Talib علي بن أبي طالب
  • Ali bin Himail from Bani Ubaidah علي بن حميل بن بني عبيدة
  • Ali bin al-Hakam al-Sulami علي بن الحكم السلمي
  • Ali bin Abi Raafi` علي بن أبي رافع
  • Ali bin Rifaa`ah al-Qardhi علي بن رفاعة القرظي
  • Ali bin Rukaanah علي بن ركانة
  • Ali al-Sulami father of Sadrah علي السلمي والد سدرة
  • Ali al-Sulami علي السلمي
  • Ali bin Shaiban bin Amr bin Muhriz علي بن شيبان بن عمرو بن محرز
  • Ali bin Talq bin al-Mundhir bin Qais علي بن طلق بن المنذر بن قيس
  • Ali bin Abi al-Aas bin al-Rabee` علي بن أبي العاص بن الربيع
  • Ali bin Ubaidullah bin al-Harith علي بن عبيد الله بن الحارث
  • Ali bin Alqamah علي بن علقمة
  • Ali bin Maajid al-Sahmi علي بن ماجد السهمي
  • Ali al-Numairi علي النميري
  • Ali al-Hilali علي الهلالي
  • Ali bin Hubar bin al-Aswad علي بن هبار بن الأسود

Below is the name Ali written in Arabic naskh script:

Below is the name Ali written in Arabic kufi script:

Alasa (Name)

Alasa (transliteration: ʿAlasah, Arabic: علسة) that is described as “an insect that looks like an ant or a large tick” in Arabic sources.123 Alasa may also be spelled Alasah.

There is one Companion of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) named Alasa:

  • Alasah bin Adi al-Balawi علسة بن عدي البلوي

Below is the name Alasa written in Arabic naskh script:

Below is the name Alasa written in Arabic kufi script:

Alas (Name)

Alas (transliteration: ʿAlas, Arabic: علس) that means “large tick” (tick being an insect)1 and “spelt” (a type of wheat)2. We do not recommend using this name due to its comical similarity with the English word “alas”.

There are two Companions of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) named Alas:

  • Alas bin al-Aswad al-Kindi علس بن الأسود الكندي
  • Alas bin al-Nu`man bin Amr علس بن النعمان بن عمرو

Below is the name Alas written in Arabic naskh script:

Below is the name Alas written in Arabic kufi script:

Alaa (Name)

Alaa (transliteration: ʿAlāʾ, Arabic: علاء) is an Arabic name for boys that means “loftiness”1, “honor”2, “glory”3 The well-known Arabian name Aladdin is a phrase made up of this name (Alaa) and the word dīn (“religion”, “faith”, “creed”), creating the meaning of “glory of the faith”, meaning one who brings glory and honor to his faith.

Alaa is also spelled Ala and Alaa’.

There are 13 Companions of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) named Alaa:

  • al-Alaa bin Jariyah العلاء بن جارية
  • al-Alaa bin al-Harith al-Thaqafi العلاء بن الحارث الثقفي
  • al-Alaa bin al-Hadhrami العلاء بن الحضرمي
  • al-Alaa bin Kharijah العلاء بن خارجة
  • al-Alaa bin Khubab العلاء بن خباب
  • al-Alaa bin Sab` العلاء بن سبع
  • al-Alaa bin Sa`d al-Saa`idi العلاء بن سعد الساعدي
  • al-Alaa bin Abdul Jabbar al-Attar العلاء بن عبد الجبار العطار
  • al-Alaa bin Adi bin Rabee`ah العلاء بن عدي بن ربيعة
  • al-Alaa bin Uqbah العلاء بن عقبة
  • al-Alaa bin Wahb bin Muhammad العلاء بن وهب بن محمد
  • al-Alaa bin Yazeed bin Unais العلاء بن يزيد بن أنيس
  • al-Alaa (last name unknown) العلاء غير منسوب

Below is the name Alaa written in Arabic naskh script:

Below is the name Alaa written in Arabic kufi script:

Aktham (Name)

Aktal (transliteration: Aktham, Arabic: أكثم) is an ancient Arabian name for boys that means “big-bellied”.1 Aktham can also mean “wide road”,2, but according to al-Mutarrizi when the word was used as a name, the intended meaning was “big-bellied”.3 Aktham can also mean “one who is satiated (after eating a large meal)”.4

There are two Companions of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) named Aktham:

  • Aktham bin al-Jawn أكثم بن الجون
  • Aktham bin Saifi أكثم بن صيفي

Below is the name Aktham written in Arabic naskh script:

Below is the name Aktham written in Arabic kufi script:

Aktal (Name)

Aktal (transliteration: Aktal, Arabic: أكتل) is an Arabic name for boys that means “disaster”, “difficulty”, “trial (of life)”.12 We are only including this name for completeness and do not recommend using it for a child since it has such a negative meaning.

There is one Companion of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) named Aktal:

  • Aktal bin Shamakh أكتل بن شماخ

Below is the name Aktal written in Arabic naskh script:

Below is the name Aktal written in Arabic kufi script:

Akna (Name)

Akna (transliteration: ʿAknāʾ, Arabic: عكناء) is an ancient Arabian name for girls that means “one who has a bulging belly”12 It was common among ancient Arabians to give children names with negative meanings as a way of warding off the supposed harms of envious glances. However, it is possible that having a fat belly was considered a sign of health and luxury.

Akna may also be spelled as Aknaa’ and Aknaa.

There is one Sahabiyyah (Companion of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him) named Akna:

  • Akna bint Abi Sufrah عكناء بنت أبي صفرة

Below is the name Akna written in Arabic naskh script:

Below is the name Akna written in Arabic kufi script:

Akkaf (Name)

Akhdar (transliteration: ʿAkkāf, Arabic: عَكّاف) is an Arabic name for boys that means “one who is dedicated to (something)”, “one who has devoted himself (to something)”.12 When speaking of a Muslim, it can mean “one who performs much iʿtikāf“, i.e. “one who often stays overnight at the mosque in order to perform worship.”3 There is one Companion of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) named Akkaf:

  • Akkaf bin Wadaa`ah al-Hilali عكاف بن وداعة الهلالي

Akkaf may also be spelled as Akaaf, Akkaaf and Akaph.

Below is the name Akkaf written in Arabic naskh script:

Below is the name Akkaf written in Arabic kufi script:

IslamQA: On fighting desires when alone

How do you fight desires when you're alone?

There is no guaranteed way to control desires if the desire is strong and one has the privacy to engage in it without suffering material consequences. A person who wants to lose weight will almost certainly not be successful if they have a freezer full of ice cream. Regardless of their will power, when the desire is strong enough and the desired thing is easy enough to get, people succumb sooner or later.

What one should do is rearrange their life so that engaging in that desired thing becomes more difficult. A person who seriously desires something can come up with all kinds of creative ways to get over obstacles to get what they desire. You have to do the same thing but in the opposite direction, coming up with creative ways of making it more difficult to get the desired thing.

For more on planning against desires see the following answer, it suggestions can be generalized to any kind of desire: Dealing with an addiction to pornography

IslamQA: Dealing with an addiction to pornography

Assalamu'alaikum. I'm a girl and I'm struggling with my porn addiction. Most of my friends assume that I'm such a religious person just bc i graduated from Islamic boarding school. They just don't know the fact that I'm addicted to porn:( I feel guilty for everytime i watched it, ask for His forgiveness then stupidly watch it again and again. I just can't handle the pleasure that i got from watching it. I pray 5 times a day too, recite the Holy Qur'an and practiced some small examples of Ruqyah Syar'iyyah to protect my self from that vicious circle. But i keep doing it:( I can't stop myself from it.... how to get rid of those addiction? I know it's written in the Qur'an "and those who keep their private parts...." But i still can't stop myself:( I keep asking for His guidance to guide me to the right path but my inner desire always won

Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah,

If you are younger than 25, then your brain has not completed its development. As we mature, our ability to control our urges increases. Therefore if you have difficulty controlling yourself now, each year that passes will likely make you more capable of it. Do not lose hope but do good deeds to make up for it, such as reading the Quran or reading books about Islam in order to increase your knowledge.

For an addict, controlling an urge is impossible if the thing they are addicted to is easy to obtain. What you should do is make it more difficult for you to engage in it, for example by spending less time alone (find hobbies, join clubs and societies, volunteer at charities around you, etc.).

Trying to control your urges is likely going to be hopeless (the way it is for an obese person who wants to lose weight and who has ice cream in the freezer, even if they resist the urge for hours, they will likely still fail many times a week). Instead of thinking of controlling yourself, you should plan against your addiction. Come up with ways of making it difficult or impossible for you to engage in it, such as by spending less time alone as mentioned. If there is a time of day when you have the strongest urges, make it a habit to go out to a coffee shop, library or park for a few hours during this time.

Developing the right plan is going to be the most important part. Reading more Quran and praying more (such as performing the voluntary prayers) is going to also help. And if despite all of these things you continue to fail occasionally, instead of fretting about it just get back on track and know that as time passes things will get easier.

Perhaps everyone’s life contains an ‘unsolvable’ problem. It can be having a disabled child that requires much time and energy to take care of, it can be having a demanding elderly parent who lives in one’s house, it can be extreme poverty or a mean and cruel boss that one is forced to work for for years on end. Your unsolvable problem might be your addiction to pornography. It is a test of your faith and patience to suffer from a problem you cannot fix. Instead of giving up and thinking that God has abandoned you (which is what Satan wants you to think), continue to do as much worship and as much prayer as you can, always seeking God’s forgiveness and trying to think the best of Him.

IslamQA: On sexism and misogyny in hadith narrations and the books of scholars

Salam. This thing has bugged me for a while and I try to not care but it's an important topic . Basically many scholars, many ahadith, are very sexist. The work of bukhari, ibn abbas, alkatherr , it feels like I can't escape it and no matter how much I try to think that woman have rights in Islam I still feel as if my being is worth noting. I genuinely feel bad. I already deal with misogynism on daily basis in the country im from It's like being a woman is a bad thing.

Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah,

It is true that since the beginning of Islam until modern times most men had a low opinion of women. The same is true of non-Muslims throughout history. Women generally had less access to education and fewer interactions with other people, so that they appeared naive and unintelligent to men. Therefore when a historical personality says women are inferior or foolish, for them this seemed to be the truth, since they rarely met intelligent women who could think on the same level as men. For them it was an obvious fact of life that women are unintelligent, and anyone who doubted that could simply go and talk to some women in their society and verify that this was true.

Things only began changing in the past few centuries, when women in both Europe and the Middle East started to be more involved with their societies and started to get an education. Even in the United States, the universities only started admitting female students in the latter part of the 19th century. Cornell admitted its first female student in 1870, and its alumni, who were some of the best educated men in the country, strongly opposed letting in females.1

When it comes to sexism in hadith narrations, you should keep in mind that only a very small subset of hadith narrations reach the authenticity of the Quran. The overwhelming majority belong to a spectrum of authenticity. Some have a 99% likelihood authenticity, some 95%, and so on. Even highly authentic narrations can be rejected if the case can be made that they describe an earlier policy of the Prophet that may have been superseded by his later practice or by a Quranic revelation. For Imam Malik’s rejection of authentic narrations despite admitting their authenticity see Wymann-Landgraf, Mālik and Medina. For the issues surrounding hadith authenticity, see Brown, The Canonization of al-Bukhari and Muslim and idem, Misquoting Muhammad: The Challenge and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet’s Legacy, London, 2014.2

The Quran is our only 100% reliable source for God’s opinions, therefore you should base your thinking on it. It nowhere teaches that women are unintelligent and foolish, it rather stresses the equality of the worth of men and women, guarding their dignity and prohibiting various abuses that were common in the pre-Islamic era (such as forced marriages, selling them as slaves, not letting them get a share of inheritance). If you find a hadith or scholarly opinion that teaches to view women as inferior, instead of thinking that this is Islam, you should think the opposite, that this is not Islam, and you should do the research necessary to find out the truth. If one hadith teaches a negative thing about women, you will find others that teach positive things. If one scholar voices a sexist opinion, you will find others who reject it, and in fact there are scholars who can be described as feminist in that they think women are better and more moral humans than men.

Islam is simply a tool for you to know God better and to worship Him in the possible way. This is the purpose of this religion, everything else is a side issue complicated by the vagueness of the Quran, the unreliability of hadith narrations and the sexist cultures of the past. Rather than letting these things color your understanding of Islam, make your own understanding out of the Quran and the best opinions of the people of the past and present.

IslamQA: Is it forbidden for Muslims to befriend non-Muslims?

Is it true that it's haram for Muslims and non Muslims to be friends. I didn't know this until I read the Qur'an because no one told me about it. It says that the believers can't take non-believers as awliyaa and in my Qur'an the translation says friends. I asked my friend and she told me it means political ally but in 9:71 Allah describes believers that are friends with eachother and there is no political notation there.

As a Muslim you should get into the habit of reading the whole Quran and judging one part in the context of the rest, instead of giving all attention to one verse and forgetting the rest. Verse 60:8 of the Quran says:

As for those who have not fought against you for your religion, nor expelled you from your homes, God does not prohibit you from dealing with them kindly and equitably. God loves the equitable.

This verse was sent to balance out the verse you mentioned, and also to balance out the verse at the beginning of its own chapter:

O you who believe! Do not take My enemies and your enemies for supporters, offering them affection, when they have disbelieved in what has come to you of the Truth. They have expelled the Messenger, and you, because you believed in God, your Lord. If you have mobilized to strive for My cause, seeking My approval, how can you secretly love them? I know what you conceal and what you reveal. Whoever among you does that has strayed from the right way.

Reading the whole Quran, we get the conclusion that we are forbidden from becoming friends with those who harbor resentment against Muslims and who plan and plot against them. An example of such a forbidden friendship would be a Muslim businessman becoming friends with Israeli settler businessmen who have unjustly expelled other Muslims from the lands they live in.

As for those who have not fought us because of our religion and who have not expelled us from our homes, we are allowed to treat them in whatever way is culturally and humanly appropriate.

By being Muslim the Quran does not ask you to stop being a human. It merely tries to reform you and prevent you from doing evil and foolish things (like befriending those who would happily kill you and your family for gain if they got the chance). There is nothing wrong with befriending a good and kind non-Muslim who wishes you no harm; this is what your conscience tells you and this is what the Quran tells you.

I have read the Quran dozens of times in multiple languages and have not found a single thing that goes against my conscience. If you find such a thing in it, it means you haven’t understood it fully, or that you are reading one interpretation of a particular verse or passage when various interpretations are possible.

Akhdar (Name)

Akhdar (transliteration: Akhḍar, Arabic: أخضر) is an Arabic name for boys that means “green” (the color).1When describing a young man, it means one whose beard has just started to grow.2

Akhdar should not be confused with Akdar. However, some people spell Akhdar as Akdar. Akhadr is also spelled as Akhder, Akhzar, Akhzer and Akzer.

Akhdar was the name of a house near Tabuk in which the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) stayed during the Tabuk Campaign.3

The word Akhdar is used once in the Quran:

He who produced fuel for you from the green trees, with which you kindle a fire.4

Below is the name Akhdar written in Arabic naskh script:

Below is the name Akhdar written in Arabic kufi script:

Akhram (Name)

Akhram (transliteration: Akhram, Arabic: أخرم) (not to be confused with Akram) is an Arabic name for boys that means “one who has a cut in the side of his nose”1, “mountain stream”2, “one whose ear is pierced by a hole”3

There are three Companions of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) named Akhram:

  • al-Akhram al-Asadi الأخرم الأسدي
  • al-Akhram al-Hujaimi الأخرم الهُجَيمي
  • al-Akhram bin Abi al-Awja’ al-Salmi الأخرم بن أبي العوجاء السلمي

Below is the name Akhram written in Arabic naskh script:

Below is the name Akhram written in Arabic kufi script:

Akhnas (Name)

Akhnas (transliteration: Akhnas, Arabic: أخنس) is an ancient Arabian name for boys that means “snub-nosed”, “pug-nosed”.1 It also means “lion”2 and “tick” (the insect)3.

There are two Companions of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) named Akhnas:

  • al-Akhnas al-Sulami الأخنس السُلمي
  • al-Akhnas bin Shareeq الأخنس بن شريق

Below is the name Akhnas written in Arabic naskh script:

Below is the name Akhnas written in Arabic kufi script: