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.
أوصى الإمام الشّافعيّ تلميذه الحافظ يونس بن عبدالأعلى رحمهما الله وصيّةً مطوّلة، وفيها قوله:"يا يُونُس:
إذا كان لك صديقٌ فشُدَّ يَديك به؛ فإنّ اتّخاذَ الصّديقِ صعبٌ، ومُفارقتُه سَهلٌ"
ومرادهُ:
احرص على صديقٍ يعينُك على طاعة الله.
أخرجه أبو نعيم في (الحلية)(٩/ ١٢١) بسندٍ صحيحٍ— أ.د. عبدالله البخاري (@dr_albukhary) December 14, 2020
Translated by Mikail ibn Mahboob Ariff