Choosing a Friend

Raulullah (saws) has said, "A person is on the creed of his friend. Therefore a person should see who he is affiliated with". (Abu Dawud) In other words, if his friend is pious, he will also be pious, if he is pious, he is sure to be the same. Hence, the irreligiousness of his friend is a cause for his irreligiousness and the piety of his friend is a cause for his piety.This is the gist of this hadith. A person should ponder over his friendship and contemplate that the person whom I have selected as a friend, in terms of religiousness and piety, is he worth befriending or not? Think about the importance people attach to this topic, Nothing whatsoever! Let alone the worldly minded, even those that are referred to as religious are unmindful of this religious injunction. The "religions minded" who. other than Salah, Zakat, Hajj etc., are extremely keen on performing other optional devotions such as recitation of the Qur'an, nafl salah and so forth and they are considered to be great saints but none of them except a few arc really concerned about the company they keep.