Rotten Peaches : Good company
I opened this box only to find the rotten peaches inside. The fungi which perhaps had spoiled the first one, may be due to moisture or something else, has spoiled all the peaches in the packet, as they all were kept together.
SubhanAllah! It reminded me of having good company, and the beautiful, and oft repeated hadith with the beautiful parables.
“The example of a good companion and a bad companion is like that of the seller of musk, and the one who blows the blacksmith’s bellows. So as for the seller of musk then either he will grant you some, or you buy some from him, or at least you enjoy a pleasant smell from him.
As for the one who blows the blacksmith’s bellows then either he will burn your clothes or you will get an offensive smell from him.”
Allah Al-Hakeem (The Most Wise) says –
“And (remember) the Day when the wrong-doer will bite his hands and say: Woe to me! Would that I had taken a path with the Messenger. Woe to me! If only I had not taken so- and-so as a friend! He has led me astray from this Reminder (the Qur’an) after it had come to me. And Satan is ever a deserter to man in the hour of need.”
(Holy Qur’an: Chapter 25, Verses 27-29)
SubhanAllah! We see how the company has deep effects, and impacts. Sometimes, I ponder isn’t it beautiful that our Rabb has told us how the people will vilify themselves in the hereafter in deep regret (nadamah) to an extent that they will bite their own hands for having bad company, and the devastating consequences it has caused.
A friend should be more than a person who is always available to hang around, or a substitute needed for dopamine (feel good hormone) by having praise, and appreciations from them. I remember once I met someone and asked them why they always support each other, despite knowing that they are wrong at many places. The answer I got was quite concerning. They replied that “we are friends, and we don’t want to make each other feel lonely, so we always stand by each other in everything, and what is friendship if it is not standing by your friend’s side at the time of need?”
SubhanAllah! This is the wrong connotation of friendship, of having each other’s back even in the wrong.
A friend will always support and elevate, but a friend like a mirror will also show the shortcomings as it is, so that a person can rectify.
May Allah Al-Waliyy (The Protective Friend) be our friend, and guide us to have right people as our friends, such friends/company whose mere presence make us conscious of Allah’s existence, such friends who inspire us, elevate us, correct us with excellence. May we benefit and cherish their company, and may they do with ours. Ameen.
Coming back to the rotten peaches, I really felt very bad throwing the bag full of peaches into the compost bin. I felt guilty of not checking them at the right time, perhaps one rotten peach has spoiled all the other.
But then I shifted and channelised my guilt thinking that alhamdulillah it was rotten peaches that I got into my share, and not rotten friendships which will bring such a huge guilt in the hereafter that a person will bite his own very hands.
May Allah Al-Hafeez protect us all. Ameen.