The Contagion of Negligence
A person’s spiritual orientation and how their afterlife will be shaped largely depend on who they associate with and spend time with. Shaykh Geylani states, “Do not sit with those who want to make you love the bad aspects of this world. Seek out whoever protects you from its evils,” thus establishing that vital and unchanging rule in choosing friends. Those who fall in with the unaware are destined to become blind like them and indifferent to divine truths.
True Friend and Hidden Enemy
Those who encourage us towards the world, greed, and sin are actually the greatest enemies of our spirituality, even if they appear as friends from the outside. “A friend takes evil away from you; an enemy misleads you and confuses your path.” Constant discussions about transient benefits lull the heart to sleep, and in accordance with the secret, “He who converses with a fool is himself a kind of fool,” it makes one foolish. The only way to protect oneself from this dangerous poison and keep the heart alive is to seek refuge in the luminous gatherings of perfect people and loyal friends.