The Best Community and Hidden Hostility

You are the best nation produced [as an example] for mankind. You enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and believe in Allāh. If only the People of the Scripture had believed, it would have been better for them. Among them are believers, but most of them are defiantly disobedient. 110 They will not harm you except for [some] annoyance. And if they fight you, they will show you their backs [i.e., retreat]; then they will not be aided. 111 They have been put under humiliation [by Allāh] wherever they are overtaken, except for a rope [i.e., covenant] from Allāh and a rope [i.e., treaty] from the people [i.e., the Muslims]. And they have drawn upon themselves anger from Allāh and have been put under destitution. That is because they disbelieved in [i.e., rejected] the verses of Allāh and killed the prophets without right. That is because they disobeyed and [habitually] transgressed. 112 They are not [all] the same; among the People of the Scripture is a community standing [in obedience], reciting the verses of Allāh during periods of the night and prostrating [in prayer]. 113 They believe in Allāh and the Last Day, and they enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and hasten to good deeds. And those are among the righteous. 114 And whatever good they do - never will it be denied them. And Allāh is Knowing of the righteous. 115 Indeed, those who disbelieve - never will their wealth or their children avail them against Allāh at all, and those are the companions of the Fire; they will abide therein eternally. 116 The example of what they spend in this worldly life is like that of a wind containing frost which strikes the harvest of a people who have wronged themselves [i.e., sinned] and destroys it. And Allāh has not wronged them, but they wrong themselves. 117 O you who have believed, do not take as intimates those other than yourselves [i.e., believers], for they will not spare you [any] ruin. They wish you would have hardship. Hatred has already appeared from their mouths, and what their breasts conceal is greater. We have certainly made clear to you the signs, if you will use reason. 118 Here you are loving them but they are not loving you, while you believe in the Scripture - all of it. And when they meet you, they say, "We believe." But when they are alone, they bite their fingertips at you in rage. Say, "Die in your rage. Indeed, Allāh is Knowing of that within the breasts." 119 If good touches you, it distresses them; but if harm strikes you, they rejoice at it. And if you are patient and fear Allāh, their plot will not harm you at all. Indeed, Allāh is encompassing of what they do. 120