True friendship
INsights 077, Friday 16th May 2025
True friendship
INsights 077, Friday 16th May 2025
Earlier today, I hosted my first proper guest for the In Good Faith podcast.
Until this point, I’ve been kindly “guest hosted” by Taimur Abdaal, where his role has been to help me communicate my ideas.
But today was different.
I spent most of my time quiet, listening. I was asking the questions instead of giving the answers, which is an unusual situation for me!
I was hosting Azim Kidwai, a wonderful human being and my best friend. Azim has been a source of constant support and encouragement on my journey since 2010, and I wanted him to be the very first to appear as my guest on the new show.
I’ll tell you more about him when the episode gets released, God willing.
But what the experience made me want to reflect on here is the value of friendship for the sake and cause of God.
Amongst the numerous divine blessings that fall upon a person who attempts to effect change for His sake is the companions He sends along the way.
I’m talking about people who are ready to make significant sacrifices for you, who always have your best interests at heart, who want to see you flourish in every possible way.
They pray for you in your absence. You feel inspired in their presence.
It’s not any old friendship. It’s friendship built on faith, and one that helps to build faith. In the end, that’s the only kind of friendship that matters.
On that Day, close friends will be like enemies to each other, except for those who were loyal to God. (Chapter 43, Ornaments of God, Verse 66)
I believe such friends ultimately show up for you when you move forward in God’s cause.
Proper pursuit of the cause requires the qualities of perseverance and sacrifice, the suspension of ego, the desire for something far greater than anything temporary that this world has to offer.
So if that’s what you’re about, you’ll attract people with the same values into your life and you’ll be pulled into theirs.
Because the bond is for the sake of the One who is Lasting, then for as long as it remains as such, the bond doesn’t break. It can’t break.
One of the stories that I remember most vividly from my childhood was about three companions of the Prophet, peace be upon him, who were lying wounded and dying on the battlefield.
One companion who was still uninjured rushed to the first of them to offer him a sip of water before he passed.
But as he got to him, the cries from the second dying companion were heard. So the first told the one carrying the water to go and quench the thirst of the other before he would take a drink himself.
As the second companion was approached, the same thing happened again. A cry was heard from a third dying companion and so the second told the one carrying water to prioritise him.
When the third companion was reached, he had already died. When the one carrying the water returned to the second, he had already died. When he returned to the first, he had already died.
That story moves me now as much as it moved me some thirty years ago.
Each passed with their last act being one of noble sacrifice for their friends, their comrades, their brothers, all for the sake of God.
I know Azim would be that way for me, and I can think of a handful of others too.
I would like to think I would do the same for them.
I don’t think the sweetness of a life of faith can be fully tasted without experiencing this kind of friendship.
But for you to be given such a blessing, you must go on in pursuit of God’s cause.
When you do, just wait and see what kind of supportive and protective angels God sends your way in human form.
Until next time.
Peace.
Iqbal
~~~
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