Does Torah permit having friends who are Christians/Muslims/other forms of Avodah Zarah?
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Islam is not considered a form of Avodah Zarah, so you can scratch that one off your list– יהושע קCommented Dec 17, 2018 at 20:12
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3Important to the premise of this question: Is Christianity Avodah Zara?, Is Islam Avodah Zara?, Avodah Zarah in other religions.– Isaac Moses ♦Commented Dec 17, 2018 at 20:13
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1Similar judaism.stackexchange.com/q/14324/759– Double AA ♦Commented Dec 18, 2018 at 1:40
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@JoshK I am surprised you don't know that Islam is Avodah Zarah. Please see: youtu.be/DV2CSEd3lbA– Dan WeisbergCommented Dec 18, 2018 at 18:08
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2@Dan Weisberg the Rambam and most major poskim hold that it is not....there are malokets about many things but I don't think this is one of them– יהושע קCommented Dec 18, 2018 at 18:12
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1 Answer
The Talmud says that if a non-Jew is destitute, we must provide charity; if ill, we tend to them; if they die without relatives, we bury them.
This applies even to downright pagans, and certainly to non-Jews who are not pagans. (Muslims definitely fall into the latter category.)
There are concerns of becoming overly chummy with non-Jews as it can lead to intermarriage; Rabbi Aaron Soloveichik remarked that the ban here was on "fellowship" -- "hey let's drink together", but never on true friendship.
There will always be some distance as we don't want to blur the lines of our faith, but that doesn't mean "you can't have non-Jews as friends." The Talmud describes the warm relationship between Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi and a Roman official named Antoninus, for example.
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