A Good Friend

You all may be having some friends. You may be having friends who are your neighbours, friends at school, friends at Madrassah and many others.

However, the friends to have are those who are pious,who perform their salaah, who are interested in their studies and who obey their parents and elders and who stay away from sinful acts and sinful places.

You will be very fortunate to have such friends, especially nowadays when such friends are very rare. Most of the friends nowadays are interested only in TV, movies, football and other wasteful and sinful activities.

Many of them will be seen playing football in the morning, playing football in the afternoon and playing football at night as well. They even forgo their salaah playing football and will use any spare time for it.

There are also those who sit beside the streets and talk nonsense all day, who will be quick to attend sinful functions and will run far away from functions where good is discussed.

Unfortunately, a new evil has started nowadays in which people are wasting away their valuable lives. The evil is to sit in nightclubs all night like the Kuffaar do. Do we never get tired of licking up the spit of the Kuffaar?

May Allaah save us all from such friends who destroy others as they destroy themselves as well. They neither care for their parents nor for the Deen of Allaah. 

Children 

When you go to a garden of flowers or to a perfume shop, you will find sweet fragrances. However, if you go to a rubbish dump or sewer, you will find terrible stenches and not fragrances. The same applies to friends.

Rasulullaah (peace be upon him) said that a person will follow the ways of his friends and should therefore watch who his friends are.

When a person keeps evil friends, he will also start to develop evil habits and ways. However, if he keeps the company of good friends, he will also learn good habits.

Every person wants others to think that he is a good person and wants respect. You will however never be regarded as a good person worthy of respect if you keep company of bad friends. If your friends are bad people, people will think that you are the same. 

Children 

Never think that if you are pious, you will not be affected by bad company because you will certainly be affected in some way or another.

Look at the son of Hadhrat Nooh (peace be upon him). Although he was the son of a Nabi, he was drowned with the Kuffaar. The reason for this was that he always kept company with the Kuffaar and was affected by their evil ways.

In fact, when Allaah speaks of the time when the Queen Bilqees accepted Imaan at the hands of Hadhrat Sulaymaan (peace be upon him), Allaah says that she had been from amongst the Kuffaar.

Ulema state that this means that although she was an intelligent women who had the ability to recognise Allaah, she worshipped the sun only because she had been living with the Kuffaar and had therefore started to do what they were doing.

You may have heard the story of the people of the cave, which is mentioned in Surah Kahaf. The story is a long one, which you should ask your learned Ulema about.

However, the people of the cave were pious youngsters who left the place where they lived because the people there were Kuffaar.

They then went to a cave where Allaah made them sleep for a very long time. As they slept, their dog kept watch at the entrance of the cave.

Now although it was just a dog that Muslims are not allowed to keep as pets, it has been mentioned in the Qur'aan because it stayed in the company of pious people. 

Children 

Keeping the company of bad people always has bad results and will eventually destroy a person. If a person wants to be successful in this world and in the Aakhirah, he should keep company with good and pious people and attend the gatherings and lectures of the pious people.

What we learn from them we should pass on to others because since no Nabi will come after Rasulullaah (peace be upon him), it is our duty to pass the message of good on to others.