The Meaning of the Hadith: "If I Were to Take a Friend from Among the People of the Earth"
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
Your Eminence the Shaykh. This questioner says: What is the meaning of the hadith of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)Sahih Muslim 2383d “Allah has taken me as a close friend.”
The Shaykh:
And your companion is the close friend of Allah.
The questioner:
Yes. This hadith is specific to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Is it permissible for a believer to take a close friend from among his brothers? Please inform us.
The Shaykh:
There is nothing wrong with that. But the one whom Allah has taken as a close friend does not take a close friend alongside Allah; he does not take a close friend alongside Allah. As for anyone other than the close friend of Allah, he associates with whomever he wishes from among the people. Yes.
Your Eminence the Shaykh. This questioner says: What is the meaning of the hadith of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)
If I were to choose amongst the people of earth someone as my bosom friend, I would have chosen the son of Abu Quhafa as my friends but
لو كنت متخذا من أهل الأرض خليلا لاتخذت أبا بكر خليلا، ولكنThe Shaykh:
And your companion is the close friend of Allah.
The questioner:
Yes. This hadith is specific to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Is it permissible for a believer to take a close friend from among his brothers? Please inform us.
The Shaykh:
There is nothing wrong with that. But the one whom Allah has taken as a close friend does not take a close friend alongside Allah; he does not take a close friend alongside Allah. As for anyone other than the close friend of Allah, he associates with whomever he wishes from among the people. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، [فيديو] موقف الإسلام من التيارات الفكرية \ الشيخ صالح الفوزان \ كبار العلماء — youtube.com (37:41)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.