Consequence of bad companionship

In his great book ‘Nayki ki dawat’ (Call to Righteousness), on page 290 (Urdu version), Ameer Ahl-e-Sunnat, the founder of Dawat-e-Islami, Allamah Maulana Abu Bilal Muhammad Ilyas Attar Qaadiri Razavi Ziya’ee دَامَـتْ بَـرَكَـاتُـهُـمُ الْـعَـالِـيَـهْ has said: Once, in Punjab (Pakistan), a strange bad-smell was felt in a neighbourhood. After a long struggle, the locals were able to find a locked house from where the smell was coming. Police was informed of it. After the police broke the lock in the presence of people and entered the house, everyone was frightened to see that the corpse of a young man was lying on a charpoy (bedstead). Some of his body parts had decomposed and insects were crawling in them. Seeing it, many people including children passed out [i.e. became unconscious]. After the investigation, it was found that the young man was a labourer and was living in the house on rent. He had friendship with some gamblers. One day, the young man won a lot of money in gambling from his friends. In order to snatch the money they had gambled away [i.e. lost], the losing friends fastened a noose around his neck and murdered him by repeatedly giving him electric shocks. They then locked the house and ran away, leaving him un-shrouded and unburied.

اے جُواری تُو جُوئے سے باز آ              ورنہ پھنس جائے گا جس دن تُو مرا

تُو نشے سے باز آ مت پی شراب             دو جہاں ہوجا ئیں گے ورنہ خراب

ہو گیا تجھ سے خدا ناراض اگر                قبر سُن لے آگ سے جائیگی بھر

Dear Islamic brothers! Did you hear! How destructive is it to spend time in bad company and how horrible death is for the one who has a bad company! Undoubtedly, bad company destroys a person completely. Having the company of bad people means one is inviting evils, curses and troubles. Sometimes these bad friends become the enemy of their friends for their own benefits and kill them with great torture. In this way, those who enjoy the company of bad friends become a sign of admonition for others. We have just heard an admonitory parable of the one who used to enjoy the company of bad friends. We should keep away from the company of bad friends, especially the bad company of gamblers as those who are in the bad habit of gambling not only lose all of their income for which they work hard, but they also suffer many other losses.