Good Company: A Lesson From Surah Kahf

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

Good Company is a blessing, even for a dog.

Ibn 'Atiyyah says that his father told him that he heard a sermon of Abu al-Fad1Jawhari in the Hijrah year 469 at the Great Mosque of Egypt. Speaking on the Mimbar, he was telling everyone, 'whoever loves good people, he too gets a share from their goodness. See when the dog of the Al-Ashab al-Kahf (companions of the cave) loved them and followed them closely as if appended with them, Allah Ta'ala mentioned it in the Qur'an'.

Al-Qurtubi mentions this report of Ibn 'Atiyyah in his Tafsir. In his comments, he says when a dog can reach this station by being in the company of the righteous and the saintly, imagine how high the station of true believers and pure monotheists who love righteous men of Allah would be. In fact, there is comfort and good news in this event for Muslims who are weak in deeds but do love the Holy Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, fully and duly.

Sayyidna Anas radhiallahu anhu, said, "One day, I and the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wassallam were coming out of the Masjid. We met a person at the door. He asked, "Ya Rasulullah, when will the Qiyamah come?" He said, "What preparations have you already made for Qiyamah? (In view of which you want it to come soon)."Hearing this, the man was somewhat ashamed and corrected himself by saying, "I have not collected a lot of prayers, fasts and charities for Qiyamah, but I love Allah and His Messenger." He said, "If so, [on the day of Qiyamah] you shall be with those whom you love." Sayyidna Anas says, "when we heard this bliss of a sentence from the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wassallam, we were so happy that we had never been that happy since we embraced Islam." After that, Sayyidna Anas said, "alhamdulillah, I love Allah, His Messenger sallallahu alayhi wassallam, Abu Bakr and Omar radhiAllahu anhuma, therefore, I look forward to being with them." [Qurtubi]

You love someone because you feel they are close to Allah. Their closeness to Allah wins your love for them. It is a very virtuous deed indeed when you love someone for Allah. Through it you get the sweetness of faith. You feel content and your heart is tranquil. The heart moves with Allah.

The sign that you love someone for Allah is that you can leave them when they are distant from Allah. People who are distant from Allah, you have an aversion of them. You don't want to be their best friend.

Choose your friends carefully. You will be like them. These are the people that can bring you closer to Allah or away from Allah.

The one whose words guide you to Allah is the one who speaks by Allah. He directs you to Allah and withdraws from other than Him. When he speaks, he takes all the hearts, and when he is silent, his state raises you to the Knower of the Unseen worlds. So his state confirms his words and his words are in harmony with his knowledge. The company of someone like this is an elixir which transforms the sources. This is understood from the words of the Shaykh, "If someone's state does not life you up, then do not keep his company." Keep the company of the one whose state will lift you up and whose words will lead you to Allah...ibn Ajiba's commentary

It is good to love the believers because this is your means of success in the Day of Judgment.

When you see righteousness in your friends, it is good to say "I love you."

May Allah grant us righteous companions and the sweetness of faith. Ameen.

Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam

p.s. Question may arise as to why the Companions of the cave take a dog with them. It appears in an authentic Hadith that angels do not enter a house that has a dog or picture. Al-Bukhari related on the authority of Sayyidna Ibn 'Umar that the Holy Prophet said, "Whoever keeps a dog, except the one used for hunting or guarding livestock, has two qirats deducted every day from his reward (qirat or karat is the name of a small weight)." And in the report narrated by Sayyidna Abu Hurayrah, there is the exception of a third kind of dog, that is, a dog kept to guard land produce. One answer to this could be that the prohibition of keeping a dog is an injunction of the Shari'ah brought by the Holy Prophet and it is possible that it may not be so prohibited in the Sharl'ah (law) brought by Prophet Isa alayhissalaam. It is reasonably imaginable that these people who had property and livestock may have kept a dog for their protection from intruders and since the faithfulness of a dog is well known, the dog followed them when they went out from the city. [Tafsir Maa'riful Qur'an]