Page 68 - Those Who Exhaust All Their Pleasures In This Life

66 THOSE WHO EXHAUST ALL THEIR PLEASURES IN THIS LIFE

Of course, finding a true friend is a real blessing. Such
friends are with you in good times and bad, want for you
what they want for themselves, want you to be happy and
to have the best as much as they want those things for
themselves. In other words, such friends are never jealous
of each other. Among their qualities is the desire that their
friends be happy in both worlds. They are open and hon-
est with each other about their faults and show them how
to overcome them. People generally think this is an
aggressive attitude; however, only a true friend would do it.
Those who have a sense of rivalry or envy toward another
will not point out other people’s mistakes if they do not
have to, because they do not want the other person to be
better than they are. And so they flatter them: “You’re very
good,” “Don’t change,” and “Always stay the way you are.”
In order to be a good friend, you must be able to love your
friends for their lovable qualities: their fear and respect of
Allah, sincerity, and good moral character. Only a friend-
ship founded on these values is lasting. So, even though
their desire to do so may be great, those of an ignorant
moral character most often cannot find any good friends.
No doubt you have heard people make complaints similar
to these: “I’m very lonely.” “I don’t have a single friend,”
and “Everyone has gone away and left me in the lurch. I
guess they were fair-weather friends.”
Friendships based upon wealth, beauty, respect, posi-
tion, or social status are never long-lasting, for conditions
change. As soon as the conditions on which the friendship
is based are changed in any way, the friendship itself