Who are your True Friends?

Allah سبحانه وتعالى says in the Holy Qurān,

الْأَخِلَّاء يَوْمَئِذٍ بَعْضُهُمْ لِبَعْضٍ عَدُوٌّ إِلَّا

الْمُتَّقِينَ

The intimate friends on that Day will be hostile unto one another save the God-fearing.

[Az-Zukhruf 43/67]

This verse tells us that the best of friends will be enemies of each other on the Day of Judgement except those with taqwa. In reality, there are no friends. Often our so-called friendships are our enemies as we do things because of these friendships and relationships, for which we normally have no inclination. We sometimes sin and change our behaviour for the worse because of our friends. A characteristic that is deeply ingrained in human nature is that we want to be liked and loved and as a consequence we feel too weak and embarrassed to say ‘no’ when with friends.

Your only friends are those few friends who have taqwa. This is because they stop you from sinning and help you improve spiritually. So-called friends will never be around in the dunya when you need them, let alone in the akhira. We should be our own person, recognise the truth and follow it even if it is contrary to the behaviour of our friends. Everybody has to go to his or her own grave.

[This short excerpt is based on a majlis (gathering held for spiritual training) held by Shaykh Riyadh ul Haq on 17th September 2003].

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