Text copied Link copied

Al-Fatawa – home

﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

Scholar
Search mode

Is there evidence in the saying of Allah the Exalted, “And to Madyan [We sent] their brother Shu‘ayb,” that it is permissible to address a disbeliever as “brother”?

Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner says: We have learned that it is not permissible for us to call Christians our brothers, so how do we understand the saying of Allah the Exalted:
And to [the people of] Madyan [We sent] their brother Shu'ayb.وَإِلَىٰ مَدْيَنَ أَخَاهُمْ شُعَيْبًا
[Al-A'raf 7:85]


Answer:
This refers to kinship.
And to [the people of] Madyan [We sent] their brother Shu'ayb.وَإِلَىٰ مَدْيَنَ أَخَاهُمْ شُعَيْبًا
[Al-A'raf 7:85]
This is in terms of kinship, because Allah sends the Messenger from the same tribe or nation in order to make things clear to them. And We did not send any Messenger except in the language of his people to make things clear to them. If someone they did not know came to them, they would not accept from him.
But if he came to them as their cousin and their brother in kinship, and they knew his upbringing and knew his truthfulness and trustworthiness, they would have no excuse for not accepting what he brought.
Or did they not know their Messenger, so they are toward him disacknowledging?أَمْ لَمْ يَعْرِفُوا رَسُولَهُمْ فَهُمْ لَهُ مُنكِرُونَ
[Al-Mu'minun 23:69]
So Allah sends in every generation and in every nation a Messenger from among them. Yes, they know him. Yes.
Source قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، [411 -858] هل في قوله تعالى (وإلى مدين أخاهم شعيبا) دليل على جواز مناداة الكافر بأخي؟ — youtube.com

The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.

Flag this fatwa