Grateful To Allah

Bismillahir Rahmaanir Rahiim

Asalaamu alaikum.

This past week, I have talked at great length with three wonderful friends. I don’t use the term “friend” lightly. I know it is common discourse to refer to anyone you spend any time with as a friend, but I am a bit more cautious. My co-workers, while I may like them, are my co-workers. An acquaintence is still just an acquaintence. Even those I consider my brothers and sisters in deen are still not always necessarily “friends”. Afterall, you can love a sibling, know that you’d do anything for them because of your bond, but have to admit you still don’t particularly like each other. Thankfully, I don’t have to say that about my own brother, who really is one of my best friends, LOL, but you must concede that is not always the case with siblings.

To me a friend is someone that I have let in to a certain level of depth within me. They know some of my less desireable traits. Though certainly I am ashamed that they would ever become aware of them, I realize that they accept me flaws and all. More importantly, they call me out when those flaws are taking over, they gently push me towards growth and improvement. They do not lie to me to make me think I am better than I am, and yet they do not shame or mock me for being imperfect. On the other side, I hope that they feel that I provide that same level of support to them, inshaAllah.

To me a friend is the person who calls me to good. The one with whom remembrance of Allah is frequent and natural, the one with whom the Sunnah is understood, and the one who is a reminder of higher character. I am blessed to have five friends like that. FIVE! SubhanAllah, can you even imagine?

Where the age old joke is how lucky we are to have one true friend, I have five, mashaAllah. Five people, who are very different from each other, but who all share one important element: Islam. They don’t all follow the same madhab or the sit in the company of the same shaykh, or even have the opportunity to sit in the company of a shaykh at all. We don’t “hang” together like teenagers who feel safer in numbers. These are blessed, one-to-one friendships for the most part, though their paths may cross and they may know of each other. They are not scholars, nor celebrities, nor anything so “popular” that would bring me prestige by naming them as my friends. They are just humble, everyday Muslims who exemplify brotherhood and sisterhood, naturally, perhaps without even realizing it.

These are five people I have been blessed to know, to learn from, to share my heartbreak, drama, and happiness with. Five people who may not even know how much they impact me. Five people for whom I will say du’as regularly, even should they fade from my life at some point, should we go our own ways, who I will never forget inshaAllah. Five people for whom I am forever grateful to Allah for having allowed to enter my life. Five people who are gifts and deserve to hear that they are loved for the pleasure of Allah.