And (Be mindful of) the Day the wrongdoer will bite his hands saying, “Would that I had taken a path along with the Messenger (Salallahu Aleyhi Wasallam)! Woe to me! Would that I had not taken so-and-so for my friend! Indeed he led me astray from the advice (the Qur’an) after it had come to me.” And Satan is man’s betrayer.
{Surat Al-Furqan 25: Verse 27-29}
“Biting the hand” is an old Arabic figure of speech of someone who is full of regret. This ayaah describes a person who will be so utterly regretful that he would be biting both of his hands, crying & wailing: “If only I didn’t take so-and-so as a friend!” The friend that he/she is referring to is the one who took them away from the path of Rasoolallah ﷺ. The friend who made them do things or talk in the way that Rasoolallah ﷺ would never do nor approve.
Some of us may have those friends. Today, we care for these people so much – we call or text them every day, check their Facebook posts every day. But come the Day of Judgment, we won’t even remember their names. They will be so useless that they’ll just be a “fulan”, a “so-and-so”, to us!
These friends use foul language & perhaps we realize it’s a bad thing. But we say to ourselves: “They’re doing it but at least I’m not.” No! It has an impact on us too! Eventually those words will come out from our own mouths. A container only gives out what it contains: If bad words keep going into your ears, bad words are going to come out of your tongue. If you watch evil deeds all the time, evil actions will come out. You cannot just pretend that the things you watch, the things you hear, the places you go, will not have an impact on your character! It will!
We have to make a really good assessment on who our friends are & what kind of lifestyle they’re leading us to. We have to make a solid effort to find a company of people that will help make us be a better person, make our manners & speech better, make us more courteous & patient.
May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’aala grant us excellent friends who are loved by Him and protect us from falling into the wrong company.
Gems extracted from a khutbah by Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan
Authored by Sister Aida Misr
source: theidealmuslimah.com