Assalaamu alaykum. Is it correct to refer to Allah as our best friend/closest companion?

All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

Before answering your question, we say: Why would a person refrain from praising Allah, the Exalted, with what He has praised Himself with or with what His Messenger, sallallahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, praised Him and come up with his own words of praise instead? Is it because he is more knowledgeable of Allah than Allah and His Messenger, or is it because the reported praise is short of what Allah deserves of praise, or for another reason?

Therefore, it is safer for the Muslim to praise Allah with what Allah has praised Himself with and what His Messenger, sallallahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, praised Him with.

In answer to your question, we say: the scholars established the principle that the Names and Attributes of Allah are determined through revelation only; i.e. they are confined to what was revealed in the Quran and Sunnah because they are part of the Unseen, the knowledge of which is with Allah alone; Allah, the Exalted, says (what means): {And do not pursue that of which you have no knowledge. Indeed, the hearing, the sight and the heart - about all those (one) will be questioned.} [Quran 17:36]

In his book Tafseer Asmaa’ Allah Al-Husna, Shaykh As-Saʻdi said, “It must be known that the scholars of the Sunnah agreed that it is permissible to refer to Allah with His Names and Attributes as long as their usage is approved by the Shariah (i.e. they are used in reference to Him in the Quran and Sunnah); otherwise, it is forbidden.”

The term As-Saahib (the Companion) was used to refer to Allah in the context of traveling only. Ibn ʻUmar, may Allah be pleased with them, narrated that the Prophet, sallallahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, used to say upon traveling, “Allahumma anta As-Saahib fi As-Safar wa Al-Khaleefah fi Al-Ahl...” (O Allah, You are the companion on the journey and the successor over the family...) [Muslim]

Ibn ʻAllaan said:

“Shaykh Ahmad ibn Hajar Al-Haytami said, ‘Referring to Allah as ‘As-Saahib’ qualified with the words 'on the journey' is permissible, but it is impermissible to use it unqualified with it, because the Names of Allah are determined through revelation only. The same applies to all the names that were used in reference to Allah in a specific context, like Al-Khaleefah fi Al-Ahl (the successor over the family, in whose care and protection one leaves his family during travel or residence). The two names As-Saahib and Al-Khaleefah cannot be used in reference to Allah without qualifying them.” [Daleel Al-Faaliheen - abridged]

Hence, it is permissible to refer to Allah as As-Saahib (the Companion) if it is qualified, and it is qualified in your question with the term 'closest' in saying 'the closest companion'. As for the term 'friend', we could not find any text or evidence that it could be used in reference to Allah in a specific context or in a general sense. Therefore, it is absolutely impermissible to use it in reference to Allah because, as we mentioned above, the Attributes of Allah are determined only through the divine revelation.

Allah knows best.