 Allah tells us in the Quran grasp on to the rope of Allah altogether and do not separate and remember the blessing of Allah upon you when you were enemies and he joined your hearts and so through his blessing you became brothers you were on the verge of falling into the fire and he saved you from and thus does Allah clarify his signs so that you may be guided. We always reiterate this fact that mankind is born into society that we were never meant to be alone. We were created dependent first as children dependent on our parents then as adults dependent on our peers and on our families then as elders dependent on our children so to be human in a sense is to live with and to love others and so perhaps we can say that the most influential part of our lives are the people that are around us. Our scholars note the companionship the company that you keep is a dye whatever it touches it colors it changes so our company changes us physically when we walk together with someone we're walking in sync with them just automatically without thinking about it when we live together with someone our bodily cycles will match when we spend time with people we very quickly take on their mannerisms and their language and their quirks we become like them but the effect of companionship does not end there this is the physical world we're talking about in the physical world mirrors the spiritual world and so we can understand too that companionship just as it changes our physical being it changes us internally as well the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said al-marwa aladini khalili a person is on the religion of his close friend and this is because the people that we are around will end up defining our inclinations and our desires it is our Suhba our company that makes us who we are look at the Sahaba radiallahu anhu the companions who even today they are known by nothing else but the term Suhba they are Suhaba they are companions these are the people that have the companionship of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam that above all else just that company above anything else the elevation of the person who they spent time with elevated them to become the Suhaba so if we spend our time with people that want nothing but status and riches in this world even if we start off aloof from that we don't care about those things but we're spending time with these people we will soon become like them we will align our inner selves with those desires those status and those riches we will want to become more like them subconsciously so desires will start without us being aware to align with theirs and then suddenly we will discover their desires have become our desires and we start chasing them not subconsciously but consciously and this happens again and again and again when we spend time only with our fellow colleagues or with our fellow classmates we find that we will begin thinking in their terms perhaps at work we will begin networking for networking sake or if there are students among us trying to get results just for that for its own sake and soon we forget the perhaps high and honorable goals that we had years ago the dreams that we had of things that we would do and this is all due to our Suhaba our company because if we had spent time with the people of Allah these loves these things that we dreamed of doing of bettering ourselves of becoming closer to Allah those would have never fallen away from our hearts status and riches and everything else would never have entered into our hearts instead we would have fallen in love with worship and with spiritual perfection and with service for Allah's sake and with trying to make the world a better place and this is why when our famous scholar said in a line of poetry he says ask not about a person if you want to know about a person don't ask about the person but ask about their friends because every person is only following what his peers do and this social nature of humanity is one of the reasons that Allah designed Islam in the way that he did Islam is a communal religion it's not a private at-home religion just for you and yourself we cannot complete this religion without other people the zakat needs other people prayer is better with other people Islam gives us rules and regulations that govern our businesses our relationships so our strength as a community as a religion is in our togetherness the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said and the hand of God here has been understood to represent Allah's power and his granting victory so the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in this hadith is telling us that a group in a group a group that is united in its purpose there is power that Allah has placed there and the goals of that group has will be brought about so if our goal is Islam if we are in a group that is together for the sake of Islam the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam his words here are a guarantee that being together will bring us victory in Islam it will allow us in other words to become better Muslims in such a group our faith will be protected whereas alone we would fight against the machinations of shaytan and of our lower selves all alone and we are weak and we would fall we also must remember what the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said he said with the group so we have to be a group and regarding this our scholars say no two people come together except each of them humbles themselves before the other or at least one of them humbles themselves before the other so we cannot call it being in a group true companionship if we are hold ourselves to be above the other person we will not benefit from their company our scholars say that the benefit spiritual benefit is like water it flows downward so if we hold ourselves to be above other people then we will receive no benefit nothing will be flowing towards us and so this is not a group within the meaning of the hadith the hand of god will not support such a group of people even if out through outwardly they appear to be together and this is one of the reasons why the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said no two people accompany each other except that the greater of them in reward and the more beloved of them to Allah is the one that is kinder to his companion and the one who tries to be lower who tries to humble themselves more that person will benefit more the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said no one humbles themselves for the sake of Allah except that Allah raises them meaning that Allah raises his that's this person's rank so this is some of the importance of choosing who we keep as company and how we are in our companionship with them having said this ask for Allah's forgiveness praise be to Allah we testify that there is no god but Allah alone and with our partner may prayers and peace be upon his chosen messenger as we ended we said there are two things to remember really about keeping good company the first is how we ourselves are as a companion to other people and the second is in selecting who we choose to be in company with the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said there is no person he tells us who keeps the company of another person even if just for one moment except that he will be asked about that companionship did he in that moment uphold the right of Allah or did he waste it so no matter who we are with we will be asked about that company so we have to remember that in good suhba our own comportment is just as important as the other persons and so our behavior must revolve around what Allah's rights are what rights has Allah given the other person over us what must we fulfill with respect to them what is Allah's rights in the purpose of our coming together what is Allah's commandment regarding the words that we are using when we are talking to each other what does Allah say about what we should be saying what advice we should be giving each other that should be the center of our companionship our companionship cannot be centered on some other purpose otherwise we will inevitably neglect the right of Allah so if we are friend if we are with a friend for the purpose of business perhaps our business interests will appear to conflict with the word of Allah so instead of straightforwardly mentioning what can and we cannot be done what Allah allows and what Allah does not allow perhaps we will attempt to hide Allah's words and we stay silent instead of counseling and this is what the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam refers to when he asks whether we have neglected Allah's right he says whoever for whom Allah wants good he grants to him a righteous friend friend if he forgets the friend reminds him and if he remembers the friend helps him that is true friendship that is a friendship for the sake of Allah the second thing that we should do is to select our company carefully whenever scholars said keep the company only of someone with four traits generosity when he has little forgiveness when he is treated unfairly patience when he is tried and contentment with Allah's decree people of course like this are very few but these are the most basic elements of good character so we should seek out people that have at least one or two of these traits if not all four generosity here indicates love and detachment from the goods of this world forgiveness indicates humbleness and again also a detachment from the goods of this world patience indicates that a person recognizes the reality of this world being a test and a trial and that the end of this world is somewhere else not something in this world and contentment contentment is the character trait of the muttaqeen those who are weary and mindful of Allah and this is the defining trait of the believer and remember too as you as you're thinking about this your friends are who those who you spend time with this includes people but this also includes when you're at home around no one but you're with the characters of whatever book you're reading or you're with the actors of whatever tv show you're watching that's also your company that is also your suhba and very often you'll find if you look at the character of these people because people need to make stories interesting perhaps their character is not what you would want for yourself so these are the three things we should do first center our friendships upon Allah second in our company advise and counsel our friends and third seek out friends that are generous forgiving patient and content with Allah we ask that Allah make us among those who love each other for Allah who come together for the sake of Allah and who visit each other for the sake of Allah we ask Allah graces with that what she loves and is pleased with we ask Allah give us refuge with him with him from the punishment of the fire the torment of the grave the trials of life and death and from the evil tribulation of the the antichrist Allah says surely Allah commands justice excellence and charity to relatives and he forbids indecency vice and injustice he warns you so that you may take heed