139الَّذينَ يَتَّخِذونَ الكافِرينَ أَولِياءَ مِن دونِ المُؤمِنينَ ۚ أَيَبتَغونَ عِندَهُمُ العِزَّةَ فَإِنَّ العِزَّةَ لِلَّهِ جَميعًاMuhammad AsadAs for those who take the deniers of the truth for their allies in preference to the believers - do they hope to be honoured by them when, behold, all honour belongs to God [alone]?1See 3:28. However, the term "allies" (awliya, sing. wali) does not indicate, in this context, merely political alliances. More than anything else, it obviously alludes to a "moral alliance" with the deniers of the truth: that is to say, to an adoption of their way of life in preference to the way of life of the believers, in the hope of being "honoured", or accepted as equals, by the former. Since an imitation of the way of life of confirmed unbelievers must obviously conflict with the moral principles demanded by true faith, it unavoidably leads to a gradual abandonment of those principles.