Muslimah "hanging out" with teen companions in USA
Fatwa No: 84098

Question

I am a 15-year-old Arab Muslimah living in America. I would like to ask you some questions.First, I hang out with my Muslim friends (who are all girls) but they are not the best Muslims. From them I have learned to talk about others and swear too much. They are good girls, all around my age, but are obsessed with music and guys. I want to tell them it's wrong and if I didn't love them so much I would stop being their friend. I feel bad about the things that I learn and if I tell them that I have been memorizing Qur'an for 2 hours, they say its "geeky". Please help me know what to do for myself and friends!

Answer

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the World; and may His blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions.

A faithful Muslim should not befriend except those who help him/her to obey Allah, The Great and Almighty. In other words, one should not befriend disobedient people; since if he/she does such an action, this means that he/she will be, sooner or later, like them.
Thus, a person who sees his friends' misdeeds and disobedience, should order them to avoid such bad deeds and should not join them.
In addition, one has to advise then to repent and return to Allah, The Great and Almighty.
But, if they do not abide with his advice, then he should leave them and their misdeeds.
Allah knows best.

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