لَّا يَتَّخِذِ ٱلْمُؤْمِنُونَ ٱلْكَٰفِرِينَ أَوْلِيَآءَ مِن دُونِ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ
Lā yattakhidhi'l-muʾminūna'l-kāfirīna awliyāʾa min dūni'l-muʾminīn, wa man yafʿal dhālika fa-laysa mina'llāhi fī shayʾin illā an tattaqū minhum tuqāh, wa yuḥadhdhirukumu'llāhu nafsah, wa ila'llāhi'l-maṣīr
"Let the believers not take those who disbelieve as protectors in place of the believers. Whoever does that has no relation left with God — except that you guard yourselves against a danger from them. God warns you of Himself; and to God is the return."
The root و-ل-ي: to be near, to be adjoining. Walī — the one who is near, who takes charge of another's affair. The root was treated across eight occurrences in al-Shūrā and in detail in al-Mumtaḥana.
Per the method (Method) I record this, and it comes out of the wording of the verse:
One. The word is not "friend". Walāya (the bond of mutual protection) means entrusting one's affair to another, declaring one's side. This distinction was set out plainly at 60/8 in al-Mumtaḥana: "God does not forbid you to deal kindly and justly with those who have not fought you over religion and have not driven you from your homes." I rely on that treatment.
Two. The verse's caveat is min dūni'l-muʾminīn — "in place of the believers". This caveat shows what the prohibition is aimed at: a situation of choosing.
Three. The verse does not give a blanket rule of conduct about a group of human beings; it takes up a question of allegiance. No legal ruling is drawn from this in this commentary.
The exception must be recorded: the verse sets an exception to its own ruling. Tuqāt, from the root ت-ق-ي — guarding oneself, taking precaution.
This exception has been discussed at length in the classical legal literature. Per the method (Method) I do not enter that discussion and I issue no legal ruling. What is to be recorded is that the verse itself sets an exception — that is, the ruling is not absolute but qualified.
The twenty-ninth verse says that the hidden and the open are the same (in tukhfū mā fī ṣudūrikum aw tubdūhu yaʿlamhu'llāh), and the thirtieth that everyone will find what he has done brought present: yawma tajidu kullu nafsin mā ʿamilat min khayrin muḥḍarā.
I record this as an observation: the verse does not say that the deed is recounted but that it is brought. And this is the very picture treated at 18/49 in al-Kahf (wa wajadū mā ʿamilū ḥāḍirā). I rely on that treatment.
And the closing sentence is worth recording: wa yuḥadhdhirukumu'llāhu nafsah… wa'llāhu raʾūfun bi'l-ʿibād. In the same context, both a warning and a tenderness. I give this as an observation about the word order: the sūra closes a heavy sentence with the name Raʾūf — and this lies along the same line as the pattern recorded in al-Ḥujurāt of "leaving room after every heavy sentence".