thread was also being pulled in the air. The frog said, ‘This is the punishment of friendship with a stupid like a rat.’ It shows that the company of stupid and wicked people causes a lot of troubles.

اے فُغاں از یارِ ناجِس اے فُغاں                                                                                          ہَمنَشینِ نیک جُوئید اے مِہاں

Translation: I seek refuge from the stupid friend. O my friends! Look for pious companions. (Masnawi, pp. 266, 267, 285, amended)

Company of corrupt-belief people is deadly poison

Dear Islamic brothers! It has been understood that the company of unwise people brings about great loss, and sometimes their evil influence ruins others as well. Remember, the way having the company of those who are involved in drinking, gambling and committing sins brings about destruction, similarly, meeting people of corrupt belief, listening to their speeches, reading their books, having meals with them or establishing relationship with them are also deadly poison for faith and bring about great destruction in the world and the Hereafter. Alas! At present, some unwise people establish relations with people of corrupt belief and say: No one can jolt us; we are very strong; we have established ties with them so that we can make them like us. Similarly, some unwise people marry women of corrupt belief for satisfying their Nafs and say like this: We have married them in order to make them like us. Similarly, there are some unwise families who hand their beloved children to the teachers of corrupt belief only for the sake of good worldly education and finally the same children’s belief become corrupt when they grow up. Such people learn an admonitory lesson from the sayings of A’la Hadrat رَحْمَةُ اللهِ تَعَالٰی عَلَيْه. A’la Hadrat رَحْمَةُ اللهِ تَعَالٰی عَلَيْه has said: The company of the people of corrupt belief is a fire. The beliefs of educated, sensible and matured men have also been corrupted in it. The story of Imran bin Hattan Raqqashi is very famous. He was a great Muhaddis in the era of Tabain. He himself became deviant after marrying and spending time with a corrupt-belief woman. He claimed that he wanted to convert her to Sunni after marrying her. When this is the state of the company (that such a great Muhaddis lost his belief) so how terrible is it to make a man of corrupt belief the teacher who exerts enormous and immediate influence on his students. So the