The Importance of Having Good Friends According to the Qur'an and Sunnah
Qur’an:
يا أيها الذين آمنوا اتقوا اللهَ وكُونوا معَ الصادقين
O believers! Be mindful of Allah and be with the truthful. [Surah 9:119]
واصبر نفسك مع الذينَ يدعون ربَّهم بالغداةِ والعشيِّ يُريدونَ وجهَهُ ولا تَعْدُ عيناك عنهُم تُريد زينةَ الحياةِ الدنيا ولا تُطِعْ مَنْ أغفلنا قلبَه عن ذكرنا واتَّبَعَ هواهُ وكان أمرُه فُرُطاً
And patiently stick with those who call upon their Lord morning and evening, seeking His pleasure.1 Do not let your eyes look beyond them, desiring the luxuries of this worldly life. And do not obey those whose hearts We have made heedless of Our remembrance, who follow ˹only˺ their desires and whose state is ˹total˺ loss. [Surah 18:28]
ويوم يعضُّ الظالمُ على يديهِ يقولُ يا ليتني اتَّخذتُ مع الرسولِ سبيلاً. يا ويلتى ليتني لم أتَّخِذْ فلاناً خليلاً. لقد أضلَّني عن الذكر بعدَ إذ جاءَني وكان الشيطان للإنسان خذولاً
And it will be a hard day for the disbelievers. And ˹beware of˺ the Day the wrongdoer will bite his nails ˹in regret˺ and say, “Oh! I wish I had followed the Way along with the Messenger! Woe to me! I wish I had never taken so-and-so as a close friend. It was he who truly made me stray from the Reminder after it had reached me.” And Satan has always betrayed humanity. [Surah 25:27-29]
الأخلاءُ يومئذٍ بعضُهم لبعضٍ عدوٌّ إلا المتقين
Close friends will be enemies to one another on that Day, except the righteous. [Surah 43:67]
Hadith:
- Narrated Abu Musa: Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "The example of a good companion (who sits with you) in comparison with a bad one, is like that of the musk seller and the blacksmith's bellows (or furnace); from the first you would either buy musk or enjoy its good smell while the bellows would either burn your clothes or your house, or you get a bad nasty smell thereof." [Saheeh al-Bukhari]
- Narrated Abu Hurayrah: The Prophet (ﷺ) said: A man follows the religion of his friend; so each one should consider whom he makes his friend. [Sunan Abi Dawud]
- Narrated Umar ibn al-Khattab: reported the Prophet (ﷺ) as saying: There are people from the servants of Allah who are neither prophets nor martyrs; the prophets and martyrs will envy them on the Day of Resurrection for their rank from Allah, the Most High. They (the people) asked: Tell us, Messenger of Allah, who are they? He replied: They are people who love one another for the spirit of Allah (i.e. the Qur'an), without having any mutual kinship and giving property to one. I swear by Allah, their faces will glow and they will be (sitting) in (pulpits of) light. They will have no fear (on the Day) when the people will have fear, and they will not grieve when the people will grieve. He then recited the following Qur'anic verse: "Behold! Verily for the friends of Allah there is no fear, nor shall they grieve." [Sunan Abi Dawud]