Hold on Tightly to Your True Friends

Shaikh ʿAbdullāh Al-Bukhārī, may Allāh protect him, said:

Imām Al-Shāfiʿī [once] gave his student Yūnus ibn ʿAbd Al-Aʿlá, may Allāh have mercy on them both, some lengthy instructions to be followed, in which was his saying:

O Yūnus, when you have a [true] friend, grab a hold of him tightly with both your hands because getting a hold of a [true] friend is truly hard, [while] separating from him is easy.

What’s intended [by that] is: Be vigilant about [having and keeping] friends who help you in obeying Allāh.

Abū Nuʿaim reported it in Al-Ḥilyah (9/121) with a Ṣaḥīḥ chain of narrators.

Translated by Mikail ibn Mahboob Ariff