or one of them. If such company becomes firmly established and continuous, it is a dreaded, potentially fatal illness.
Among them are those whose company is like a toothache that throbs painfully while they are with you; once they leave, the pain subsides.
Among them are those whose company is a fever of the soul: a tiresome man with a repellent cast of mind, who cannot speak well enough to benefit you, nor listen well enough to benefit from you. He does not know his own worth and keep to his proper place. Rather, when he speaks, his words fall like blows from sticks upon his listeners’ hearts, while he admires his own speech and delights in it. Whenever he speaks, he discharges filth from his mouth, imagining it to be musk with which he perfumes the gathering. If he remains silent, he is heavier than half of an enormous millstone that can neither be lifted nor dragged along the ground. It is reported that al-Shāfiʿī, may Allah have mercy on him, said: “Whenever a tiresome person sat beside me, I felt that side sink lower than the other.”
One day, I saw a man of this kind with our shaykh—may Allah sanctify his soul. The shaykh was enduring his company, though his strength to bear him was failing. He turned to me and said: “Sitting with a tiresome person is quartan fever.” Then he added: “But our souls have grown so accustomed to fever that it has become their habit”—or words to that effect.
In short, the company of anyone at odds with you is a fever of the soul, whether passing or persistent. Among the hardships of this world is for a servant to be afflicted with someone of this kind whose company he cannot avoid. Let him then treat that person kindly until Allah grants him relief and a way out of his predicament.
The fourth category comprises those whose company is utter ruin: associating with them is like consuming poison. If the person who consumes it happens upon an antidote, well and good; otherwise, may Allah grant consolation to those who mourn him. How numerous such people are—may Allah not increase their numbers! These are the people of religious innovation and misguidance, who turn others away from the Sunnah of Allah’s Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and call them to oppose it. They hinder others from Allah’s path and seek to make it crooked, turning innovation into Sunnah and Sunnah into innovation, right into wrong and wrong into right.