Quran 5:51 does warn Muslims against a kind of walayah with Jews and Christians, but the word does not mean every friendship, neighborly bond, business partnership, or civic cooperation. It forbids loyal dependence on a hostile religious-political camp in a way that betrays the Muslim community and its faith.
Why the verse sounds troubling
The strongest criticism is not silly. The verse says:
"O you who believe, do not take the Jews and the Christians as awliya. They are awliya of one another. And whoever among you takes them as awliya is surely one of them. Indeed, Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people."
Quran 5:51
If awliya is read simply as "friends," the verse appears to command emotional distance from Jews and Christians as such. The phrase "whoever among you takes them as awliya is one of them" can then sound like a ban on sincere friendship, public loyalty, or common political work with non-Muslims. That reading would create a permanent wall of suspicion.
What awliya means in this setting
Awliya is a broad word. It can mean friends, but also patrons, protectors, guardians, intimate allies, or those to whom one gives political loyalty. Classical commentators did not treat this verse as a ban on all kindness or all social ties. They linked it to allegiance, dependence, and support in a setting where some groups in Madinah were not merely "different religions," but hostile blocs involved in conflict, betrayal, or pressure against the Muslims.
The warning, then, is about taking such parties as one's protecting camp against the believers, or giving them a loyalty that overrides loyalty to Allah, the Prophet (PBUH), and the Muslim community. "He is one of them" means he has joined their side in that compromising loyalty. It does not mean a Muslim becomes Jewish or Christian by having a Christian colleague, a Jewish neighbor, or a non-Muslim friend.
The Quran itself limits the meaning
The Quran cannot be read as commanding blanket hostility to peaceful non-Muslims, because it explicitly permits goodness and justice toward them:
"Allah does not forbid you from those who do not fight you because of religion and do not expel you from your homes - from being righteous toward them and acting justly toward them. Indeed, Allah loves those who act justly. Allah only forbids you from those who fight you because of religion and expel you from your homes and aid in your expulsion - that you take them as allies."
Quran 60:8-9
This passage is decisive. The forbidden alliance is tied to aggression, expulsion, and aiding persecution. Peaceful relations are not only allowed; righteousness and justice are praised.
The Prophet (PBUH) also lived this distinction. He traded with non-Muslims, accepted neighbors of other faiths, made treaties, and upheld covenants. When Asma bint Abi Bakr asked about maintaining ties with her non-Muslim mother, the Prophet (PBUH) told her to keep relations with her.
"Yes, keep good relations with your mother."
Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim
What the verse does and does not establish
It does establish that Muslims may not give ultimate loyalty to any group - Jewish, Christian, pagan, secular, or even nominally Muslim - when that loyalty requires betrayal of faith, injustice, or siding with enemies against the Muslim community.
It does not establish a ban on friendship, compassion, neighborliness, marriage to chaste women from the People of the Book, trade, treaties, shared citizenship, or cooperation for justice and public good.
So the verse is not an embarrassment to coexistence. It is a warning about compromised allegiance in a conflict setting. Islam asks Muslims to be clear in faith, loyal in conscience, and just with everyone.