Mufti Menk – They’re NOT your friends!

			Salam aleikum, we all have friends. We consider them close to us we share with them some secrets. We
spend time with them. We allow them to have an influence upon us or they allow us to have a certain
level of influence upon them. But my brothers and sisters, Allah says
		

			we are even bound only bound in
		

			Turkey in the bosom buddies, the closest of friends you know, Allah is the plural of Helene. And
Holly is from hula, the highest level of friendship. This is why Allah says, what are the law who a
Bella Hema for Lila Allah has taken Ibrahim alayhis salam, as a Helene as a close friend and even
Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, Allah took him as a close friend. So Allah says, As for the
people, they're close friends, there will be close friends, very close friends, on the day of
judgment, they will be enemies of one another enemies of one another. Except for those who had
developed a relationship with Allah, Allah, they are the ones who were conscious of Allah. So from
		

			this island, that my friends on Earth, any one of them who diverts me from the remembrance of Allah,
or diverts me from the path of the messenger, and makes me forget about the fact that I have to meet
with my maker one day, and I have to be upon my best behavior at all times. And I have to fulfill my
obligations of worshipping none other than Allah, and following the path of the messenger. And I
have to make sure that I've stayed away from prohibitions. A friend is he or she, who guides you
away from that which is sinful, considered sinful, by Allah's instruction, and a friend is he or she
who guides you towards that which is a duty unto Allah, when I'm doing something bad, they will
		

			remind me when I'm doing something good, they will encourage me and they will join me in that good.
Those are true friends. The rest, we need to look into whether that friendship is actually true. Is
it a friendship that is going to take you to your ultimate goal, which is paradise? Is it going to
take you to your ultimate eternal success? Or is it just a temporary pleasure, those who take you to
places that would earn the displeasure of Allah, you need to be a better friend by reminding them
not to go there, or by helping them abstain. Remember to use your time constructively with your
friends, remind them Don't feel bad when you are reminded to do the right thing. But if people only
		

			go to bad places and do bad things, in your company, and with you, they cannot be considered true
friends, they might be acquaintances, but they are making you heading in the wrong direction, they
will be severe enmity on the Day of Judgment between you guys. And this is why we would say just a
reminder, go back, draw up a list of your friends, if you want to make a mental note of them. Ask
yourself each one. How is our relationship and where do they take us? You know? How does this
friendship help me gain closeness to Allah. So there are some who may not help you gain closeness to
Allah but they won't take you further away either. It's okay. But you've benefited, not much perhaps
		

			you want to benefit those. There are some who would drift you away from Allah, perhaps you want to
keep away from them. Because if you cannot have an impact upon them, to bring them towards Allah and
they are drifting you away, then you're at a loss to have those friends, even if you were to earn
something through them. But it's not good enough to lose your eternal hereafter, just for the
benefit of a temporary current life. And similarly, if you were being drawn towards Allah by the
company that you have, Wow, well done, Masha, Allah Azza Baraka, those are good people, that's good
company, and be even in by the word of Allah subhanho wa Taala, you will achieve a lot. So true
		

			friends are those who would bring you closer to Allah, who would remind you to become better not to
abandon your duties unto Allah. Sometimes we develop a circle of friends and our dress code changes
becoming that which we know is distancing us from Allah. If that's the case, we need to do better my
brothers, my sisters, and this is not just advice for sisters, you know, you
		

			Usually, when we just mentioned dress code, a lot of the men think it's just for the women. No, it's
for you as well. We need to dress in a beautiful way, we need to make sure we carry ourselves in a
lovely way. How you manage your gaze is part of your dress code is part of your character and
conduct in Islam. So, this is beautiful. Let's try our best to remember never to allow the company
we keep to make us drift away from the relation or from Allah subhanho wa Taala such that the
relationship becomes weaker. Maybe we abandon prayer, maybe we start up some bad habits, intoxicants
and drugs and whatever else, the nightlife, to a certain degree, and perhaps we might forget to read
		

			the Quran, we might stop praying, we might stop fasting, we might start maybe questioning things in
a in a bad way. It's good to question in order to learn, but Subhanallah when a person is just
defying,
		

			you know, belief is something that's within you, that you need to develop. And sometimes when you in
the wrong company, they would shake that belief, I'd rather be in company that would actually help
me build that belief than being on the other side. May Allah subhanho wa Taala, bless every one of
us, and grant us goodness before I go, I'm not saying be bad to those who might not be as religious
as you are. Or I'm not saying be hurtful, harmful or abusive to those or towards those who might not
even have a proper relationship with Allah. But all I'm saying is concerned, be concerned about
yourself, Worry about yourself and make sure that you are not being negatively affected by the crowd
		

			around you. May Allah bless you all Apollo kolyada was Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.