“It may well be that Allah will implant love between you and those with whom you have had enmity? Allah is Most Powerful; and Allah is Most Forgiving, Most Compassionate. Allah does not forbid that you be kind and just to those who did not fight against you on account of religion, nor drove you out of your homes. Surely Allah loves those who are equitable. Allah only forbids you to be friends with those who have fought against you on account of religion and who have driven you out of your homes and have abetted in your expulsion.”
(Al-Qur’ān – 60:7-9)
After asking the Muslims to distance themselves from their unbelieving relatives, they are now being told that a time might come when those same relatives might embrace Islam. If that happens, the strained relations that once prevailed between the Muslims and their unbelieving relatives might be replaced by amity and friendship. Allah, the Most Powerful and the Most Compassionate, can change the hearts for the better.
Justice demands that Muslims should not be inimical to those who have not been inimical to them. Evidently, it is not fair for Muslims to treat their enemies and non-enemies alike. Muslims have a right to be severe with those who opposed them, drove them out of their homes, and thereafter pursued them with hostility simply because they were Muslims. As for those who do not persecute the Muslims, fairness demands that the Muslims too should treat them well and render them the rights that arise from blood kinship or other kinds of fellowship.