7 Types of friends to avoid

Friends! We all need them but sometimes we end up with the wrong ones that just mess thing up! These are the friends who lead us down dark paths, get in our way or simply hold us back from being the best we can be. Here are 7 Types of friends to avoid:

1. The Caller To Sin

That friend who keeps asking you to just ‘give it a try’. The friend who wants you to have the same sinful habits he has. Let him go before he drags you down!

Its true that no friend is perfect or sinless, and neither are you. But there is a difference between a friend who struggles against personal weaknesses, and a friend who wants you to walk down the path of darkness with him.

Help the former, avoid the latter!

2. The Snob

He is always boasting about what he has, how much he earns, where he travels to, or what a good person he is. Snobs can affect you in two ways: they can either make you just like them or they can make you immune to arrogance.

Arrogance is major sin, and a cause of a lot of the world’s problems. In order to fight it within ourselves we need to surround ourselves with humble people. There is simply no place for snobby bratty friends in the life of someone who is trying to live a better life.

3. The Evil Eye Giver

Do you feel afraid to share good news with your friend? Does he get jealous easily?

You may want to avoid a friend who is always getting jealous of you. True friends want you to succeed, just like you want them to succeed.

Avoid jealousy and jealous people, surround yourself with people who want whats best for you. (You’ll also save yourself from a lot of evil eye like this too!)

4. The One With A Loose Tongue

Gossip, tale-carrying, slander, hoax Whats App messages about your death!

Yeah, that friend! We all know one.

Newsflash: If he gossips to you, he probably gossips about you too!

Remember that gossip is a two way sin: both the speaker and passive listener are sinful. Because gossip cannot take place without an audience.

Avoid gossipers. Befriend people who talk about ideas, not people!

5. The Overgrown Child

He is thirty years old and doesn’t know how to pay a bill yet. And he can’t hold down a job. He still needs his mummy to take care of him. Simply put, he just won’t grow up!

NOTE: Sisters, don’t marry this guy either!

Childish friends are intimidated by mature people. So they either try to bring you down to their level or they sabotage your plans.

If you want to move forward in life, befriend mature people, not big babies.

6. The Super Lazy One

Laziness is contagious! That’s all you need to know.

Make friends with doers, not loafers.

7. The Dream Crusher

As you are a regular reader of Islamic Self Help, I gather that you have dreams and goals. I’m sure you have high aspirations and are making great plans to achieve them. After all, that is what Islamic Self Help is all about.

Well then, you do NOT want friends that get in the way of that!

Avoid dream crushers like a plague! They will put down your ideas, tell you its impossible, and maybe even insult you for dreaming about it!

You need to be friends with people who are optimistic, goal orientated and supportive. Because you WILL need their support to achieve your goals.

Cutting Ties?

I’m not asking you to cut ties with your fellow Muslim and abandon them. Remain acquaintances, and maintain a friendly distance. Just don’t allow such people to become the kind of friend that influences you. Surround yourself with good influences, not bad company.

I’ll conclude with a Hadith:

“Every man follows the religion of his closest friend. So beware whom you take as a close friend.” (Abu Dawud 4833)