How do I choose good friends in Islam?

The short answer

Choose friends who remind you of Allah and bring out the best in you, because friends shape your religion. The Prophet ﷺ compared a good friend to a perfume seller and a bad one to a blacksmith's furnace, and said a person follows the religion of his friend.

Evidence 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Explanation

The Prophet ﷺ gave a picture that is easy to remember. A good companion is like someone selling musk: either he gives you some, you buy some, or at least you enjoy the smell. A bad companion is like the blacksmith's bellows: either your clothes get burned or you leave with a nasty smell 1. You always come away with something.

He also said, "A man follows the religion of his friend; so each one should consider whom he makes his friend" 2. Friends change your habits, your language and eventually your priorities.

The Quran shows the stakes. On the Day of Judgment, the wrongdoer will bite his hands and say, "I wish I had not taken that one as a friend. He led me away from the remembrance" 3. Close friends will be enemies that Day, "except for the righteous" 4. Friendship built on taqwa is the only kind that lasts beyond this life.

So what should you look for? Allah told the Prophet ﷺ to keep himself patiently with those who call on their Lord morning and evening, and not to follow someone whose heart is heedless 5. The Prophet ﷺ advised, "Associate only with a believer" 6. That does not mean perfect people; it means people who pray, speak well and would stop you from harm.

The reward is huge. Among the seven whom Allah will shade on the Day when there is no shade but His are "two persons who love each other only for Allah's sake" 7. And "everyone will be with those whom he loves" 8, so love good people even if you cannot yet match their deeds.

If your current friends pull you down, you do not have to be harsh. Spend less time in those settings, find one or two good people at the mosque, a class or a study circle, and ask Allah to send you righteous company.

The evidence

  1. 1
    Hadith Sahih al-Bukhari 2101
    Sahih Bukhari

    A good companion is like a musk seller; a bad one like a blacksmith's bellows.

    Narrated Abu Musa:Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "The example of a good companion (who sits with you) in comparison with a bad one, is like that of the musk seller and the blacksmith's bellows (or furnace); from the first you would either buy musk or enjoy its good smell while the bellows would either burn your clothes or your house, or you get a bad nasty smell thereof

    العربية

    حَدَّثَنِي مُوسَى بْنُ إِسْمَاعِيلَ، حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ الْوَاحِدِ، حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بُرْدَةَ بْنُ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ، قَالَ سَمِعْتُ أَبَا بُرْدَةَ بْنَ أَبِي مُوسَى، عَنْ أَبِيهِ ـ رضى الله عنه ـ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏ "‏ مَثَلُ الْجَلِيسِ الصَّالِحِ وَالْجَلِيسِ السَّوْءِ كَمَثَلِ صَاحِبِ الْمِسْكِ، وَكِيرِ الْحَدَّادِ، لاَ يَعْدَمُكَ مِنْ صَاحِبِ الْمِسْكِ إِمَّا تَشْتَرِيهِ، أَوْ تَجِدُ رِيحَهُ، وَكِيرُ الْحَدَّادِ يُحْرِقُ بَدَنَكَ أَوْ ثَوْبَكَ أَوْ تَجِدُ مِنْهُ رِيحًا خَبِيثَةً ‏"‏‏.‏

  2. 2
    Hadith Sunan Abi Dawud 4833
    Hasan graded by Al-Albani

    A man follows the religion of his friend, so consider whom you befriend.

    Narrated AbuHurayrah: The Prophet (ﷺ) said: A man follows the religion of his friend; so each one should consider whom he makes his friend

    العربية

    حَدَّثَنَا ابْنُ بَشَّارٍ، حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو عَامِرٍ، وَأَبُو دَاوُدَ قَالاَ حَدَّثَنَا زُهَيْرُ بْنُ مُحَمَّدٍ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنِي مُوسَى بْنُ وَرْدَانَ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ ‏ "‏ الرَّجُلُ عَلَى دِينِ خَلِيلِهِ فَلْيَنْظُرْ أَحَدُكُمْ مَنْ يُخَالِلُ ‏"‏ ‏.‏

  3. 3
    Quran Al-Furqaan · 25:27–29

    The wrongdoer will regret the friend who led him away from the remembrance.

    وَيَوۡمَ يَعَضُّ ٱلظَّالِمُ عَلَىٰ يَدَيۡهِ يَقُولُ يَٰلَيۡتَنِي ٱتَّخَذۡتُ مَعَ ٱلرَّسُولِ سَبِيلࣰ ا ۝٢٧ يَٰوَيۡلَتَىٰ لَيۡتَنِي لَمۡ أَتَّخِذۡ فُلَانًا خَلِيلࣰ ا ۝٢٨ لَّقَدۡ أَضَلَّنِي عَنِ ٱلذِّكۡرِ بَعۡدَ إِذۡ جَآءَنِيۗ وَكَانَ ٱلشَّيۡطَٰنُ لِلۡإِنسَٰنِ خَذُولࣰ ا ۝٢٩

    27 And the Day the wrongdoer will bite on his hands [in regret] he will say, "Oh, I wish I had taken with the Messenger a way 28 Oh, woe to me! I wish I had not taken that one as a friend 29 He led me away from the remembrance after it had come to me. And ever is Satan, to man, a deserter

  4. 4
    Quran Az-Zukhruf · 43:67

    Close friends will be enemies on that Day, except the righteous.

    ٱلۡأَخِلَّآءُ يَوۡمَئِذِۭ بَعۡضُهُمۡ لِبَعۡضٍ عَدُوٌّ إِلَّا ٱلۡمُتَّقِينَ ۝٦٧

    Close friends, that Day, will be enemies to each other, except for the righteous

  5. 5
    Quran Al-Kahf · 18:28

    Keep patiently with those who call on their Lord, not with the heedless.

    وَٱصۡبِرۡ نَفۡسَكَ مَعَ ٱلَّذِينَ يَدۡعُونَ رَبَّهُم بِٱلۡغَدَوٰةِ وَٱلۡعَشِيِّ يُرِيدُونَ وَجۡهَهُۥۖ وَلَا تَعۡدُ عَيۡنَاكَ عَنۡهُمۡ تُرِيدُ زِينَةَ ٱلۡحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنۡيَاۖ وَلَا تُطِعۡ مَنۡ أَغۡفَلۡنَا قَلۡبَهُۥ عَن ذِكۡرِنَا وَٱتَّبَعَ هَوَىٰهُ وَكَانَ أَمۡرُهُۥ فُرُطࣰ ا ۝٢٨

    And keep yourself patient [by being] with those who call upon their Lord in the morning and the evening, seeking His countenance. And let not your eyes pass beyond them, desiring adornments of the worldly life, and do not obey one whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance and who follows his desire and whose affair is ever [in] neglect

  6. 6
    Hadith Sunan Abi Dawud 4832
    Hasan graded by Al-Albani

    Associate only with a believer.

    Narrated AbuSa'id al-Khudri: The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Associate only with a believer, and let only a God-fearing man eat your meals

    العربية

    حَدَّثَنَا عَمْرُو بْنُ عَوْنٍ، أَخْبَرَنَا ابْنُ الْمُبَارَكِ، عَنْ حَيْوَةَ بْنِ شُرَيْحٍ، عَنْ سَالِمِ بْنِ غَيْلاَنَ، عَنِ الْوَلِيدِ بْنِ قَيْسٍ، عَنْ أَبِي سَعِيدٍ، أَوْ عَنْ أَبِي الْهَيْثَمِ، عَنْ أَبِي سَعِيدٍ، عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ ‏ "‏ لاَ تُصَاحِبْ إِلاَّ مُؤْمِنًا وَلاَ يَأْكُلْ طَعَامَكَ إِلاَّ تَقِيٌّ ‏"‏ ‏.‏

  7. 7
    Hadith Sahih al-Bukhari 660
    Sahih Bukhari

    Two people who love each other for Allah's sake will be in Allah's shade.

    Narrated Abu Huraira:The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Allah will give shade, to seven, on the Day when there will be no shade but His. (These seven persons are) a just ruler, a youth who has been brought up in the worship of Allah (i.e. worships Allah sincerely from childhood), a man whose heart is attached to the mosques (i.e. to pray the compulsory prayers in the mosque in congregation), two persons who love each other only for Allah's sake and they meet and part in Allah's cause only, a man who refuses the call of a charming woman of noble birth for illicit intercourse with her and says: I am afraid of Allah, a man who gives charitable gifts so secretly that his left hand does not know what his right hand has given (i.e. nobody knows how much he has given in charity), and a person who remembers Allah in seclusion and his eyes are then flooded with tears

    العربية

    حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ بَشَّارٍ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا يَحْيَى، عَنْ عُبَيْدِ اللَّهِ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنِي خُبَيْبُ بْنُ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ، عَنْ حَفْصِ بْنِ عَاصِمٍ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ ‏ "‏ سَبْعَةٌ يُظِلُّهُمُ اللَّهُ فِي ظِلِّهِ يَوْمَ لاَ ظِلَّ إِلاَّ ظِلُّهُ الإِمَامُ الْعَادِلُ، وَشَابٌّ نَشَأَ فِي عِبَادَةِ رَبِّهِ، وَرَجُلٌ قَلْبُهُ مُعَلَّقٌ فِي الْمَسَاجِدِ، وَرَجُلاَنِ تَحَابَّا فِي اللَّهِ اجْتَمَعَا عَلَيْهِ وَتَفَرَّقَا عَلَيْهِ، وَرَجُلٌ طَلَبَتْهُ امْرَأَةٌ ذَاتُ مَنْصِبٍ وَجَمَالٍ فَقَالَ إِنِّي أَخَافُ اللَّهَ‏.‏ وَرَجُلٌ تَصَدَّقَ أَخْفَى حَتَّى لاَ تَعْلَمَ شِمَالُهُ مَا تُنْفِقُ يَمِينُهُ، وَرَجُلٌ ذَكَرَ اللَّهَ خَالِيًا فَفَاضَتْ عَيْنَاهُ ‏"‏‏.‏

  8. 8
    Hadith Sahih al-Bukhari 6169
    Sahih Bukhari

    Everyone will be with those whom he loves.

    Narrated `Abdullah bin Mas`ud:A man came to Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) and said, "O Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)! What do you say about a man who loves some people but cannot catch up with their good deeds?" Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "Everyone will be with those whom he loves

    العربية

    حَدَّثَنَا قُتَيْبَةُ بْنُ سَعِيدٍ، حَدَّثَنَا جَرِيرٌ، عَنِ الأَعْمَشِ، عَنْ أَبِي وَائِلٍ، قَالَ قَالَ عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ مَسْعُودٍ ـ رضى الله عنه جَاءَ رَجُلٌ إِلَى رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَقَالَ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ كَيْفَ تَقُولُ فِي رَجُلٍ أَحَبَّ قَوْمًا وَلَمْ يَلْحَقْ بِهِمْ فَقَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏ "‏ الْمَرْءُ مَعَ مَنْ أَحَبَّ ‏"‏‏.‏ تَابَعَهُ جَرِيرُ بْنُ حَازِمٍ وَسُلَيْمَانُ بْنُ قَرْمٍ وَأَبُو عَوَانَةَ عَنِ الأَعْمَشِ عَنْ أَبِي وَائِلٍ عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم‏.‏

This answer was compiled with the help of AI, using only the verified texts shown here. Every reference links to its source. If you find a mistake, please report it. Updated 2026-09-24

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