Random Thought of the Day

Assalama 'alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatu, I hope you are all doing well. Today in a gathering I attended we were discussing Shaykh Bakr Aboo Zayd's explanation of The Etiquette of Companionship from his book The Etiquette of Seeking Knowledge. SubhanAllaah, it's eye-opening what he says about what friends you have, and basically categorizes them into three:

1) A friend who befriends you [solely] for his welfare

2) A friend who befriends you [solely] for fun

3) A friend who befriends you for virtue

And I really can categorize the people of my life into these categories.  A friend that you have solely for the Sake of Allaah 'Azz wa Jal and reminds you of Him is so beautiful walhamdulillaah. When you have a group of friends who actually strive to come together for the Sake of Allaah and come to gain 'ilm, it's a great feeling. We should be very conscious of who our companions are as the saying goes, show me who your friends are and I will show you who you are. Be weary of who you keep around you, for their smell will follow you, as the Prophet, sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, said in the famous hadeeth about those who keep the companionship of blacksmiths or the companionship of one who carries perfume. If a person is your friend for fun or for his own benefit, that isn't really a friend at all. Good friends are those that remind you Allaah, and bring you too Him. And Allaah Knows Best.