Al-walā’ w’ al-barā’ (Loyalty and Disavowal): Reconstructing a ‘Creed’in the Muslim Hermeneutics of ‘Otherness’

Abstract

The notion of al‐wala’ w’ al‐bara’ is entrenched in some classical and modern Muslim discourses as a creed that ordains a Muslim’s view and attitude toward ‘disbelievers’. The proponents of a doctrinal position of this notion in Islam utilize a certain reading of scriptural sources to justify the coherence of this ‘creed’. A thorough investigation could reconstruct the applicability of this claim. Almost all these texts relate to situations of interreligious conflicts, competing coalitions, and menacing amities with enemies where belongings and loyalties cannot be negotiable. In this respect, the liaison between apostasy and disloyalty lies in the fact that ridda, in premodern contexts, included disengagement from the community, change of allegiance, and therefore enmity with the former socio‐political context.