There are three types of 'friends'...

Those that are necessary like nourishment and youcannot live without
them; those that are like medicine and are beneficial, so you need
them sometimes; and finally, those that are likea sickness and you do
notneed them at all!
Prophet Muhammad (saw) has said, "The believer is like a mirror to
other believers (in truthfulness)." Like a mirror, your friend gives
you an honest image. He forgives your mistakes, but does not hide or
exaggerate your strengths and weaknesses.
Once Prophet Muhammad(saw) was asked, "What person can be the best
friend?" "He who helps you remember Allah (SWT), and reminds you when
you forget Him," the Prophet Muhammad (saw), counseled.
Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib (as)said: "A friend cannot be considered a
friend unless he is tested on three occasions: in time of need, behind
your back and after your death."
Imam Jafar Sadiq (as)alsoremarks, "My best friend is the one who gifts
me my weaknesses and shortcomings." In other words one who brings
toyour notice your defects and flaws is indeed your true friend.
However, there is one very imperative point in the above-mentioned
tradition of Imam Jafar Sadiq (as). When one presents an offering to a
close friend, he does so with utmost care, not willing to overlook
anything. He offers the gift with total respect and regard. For, even
themost valuable gift if not presented with correct etiquette, can
look very ordinary. While presenting the offering, the friend tries to
make the most expensive gift seem very ordinary so as to not embarrass
the recipient. On the other hand, the recipient of this gift tries to
make even the most ordinary gift seem very precious, so as to please
his friend. Similarly, when we wish to point out certain shortcomings
to a friend, we must do so with a degree of respect and sincerity. Our
sole intention must be to reform the friend and there should be no
hint of any malice and self-righteousness. Likewise, when a friend
highlights for us, our defects, we must acknowledge the same with
respect and gratitude without any ill will and hostility.
Imam Hassan Askari (as) Says: "Those who advise their friend secretly
are respecting them, and those who advise them openly are humiliating
them."
Indeed if we establish these as the standards of friendship, the
believers shall soon find themselves enveloped with friends who will
take them closer to Paradise and farther away from the fire of hell.
Allah (SWT) says in the Noble Qur'an: O you who believe! Take care of
your souls; he who errs cannot hurt you when you are on the right
way;to Allah is your return, of all (of you), so He will inform you of
what you did. (Surah Al-Maeda, 5:105)
There are certain tips to remember if you wish to keep a stable friendship.
Do not dispute with him and do not be hostile to him.
Do not ridicule him. Do not quarrel with him. Instead accord friends
the respect they deserve.
Imam Hassan (as) Says:"Befriend people in the same manner you would
like them to befriend you."
Do not hold him in contempt nor consider him to be lower than you.
Instead guard the honor of your friends during their absence andafter
their death.
Do not claim precedence and supremacy over him. Instead forgive the
short-comings of your friends, because everyone makes mistakes in
life.
Do not crack indecent jokeswith him.
Finally, we ask Allah (SWT) to make us of the righteous ones and give
us companions that will take us away from His Wrath and lead us to His
Pleasure and Paradise.

Who should not be befriended according to the philosophy of Islam?

When choosing our friends we should ask ourselves first: Are they
going to help us achieve the purpose for which we were brought to
life? Or will they take us away from it? Will they desire for us
Allah's (SWT) pleasure or is that completely irrelevant to them and
not their concern at all? Are they leading us to Paradise or to the
Hell?
Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (as) narrates from his father who said,"O my
son don't befriend five types of people:
1. Don't befriend a liar (Kadhib). For a liar is like a mirage. He
shows the distant as near and the near as distant. He will always
deceive you and trouble you.
2. Don't befriend a transgressor (Ghasib). Forhe will forsake you for
a paltry sum and make your sins appear very alluring to you. He will
make you a victim of Allah's chastisement through his petty sins and
take you farther away from His obedienceand satisfaction. He will make
Allah's worship appear as His disobedience, and His disobedience as
His worship. He will drag youalong with himself in the fire of hell.
3. Never befriend a miser (Bakheel/Kanjus). For in your time of need
and distress, he will withhold his wealth from you, while he is in a
position to assist you. (He values his wealth more than anything else.
And to thatend he is prepared to forsake even his friends)
4. Do not befriend a fool (Ahmaq). For (in his foolishness) he will
harm you while he intends to help you. (That is why it is said, 'A
shrewd enemy is better than a foolish friend')
5. Don't befriend the one who breaks relations (with his
relatives/Khata Rahmi). For, such a person has been cursed in the
Noble Qur'an in three places. He is engrossed in his own affairs with
scant regard for others. (Friendship with such a person will
eventually lead the individual towards sins and disobedience of
Allah)"
Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib (as)said: "Do not befriend a sinner
(Fasiq/Fajir) because he will sell you for a morsel."
Imam Sajjad (as) said:"Do not make anyone your enemy even though you
consider him harmless and do not turn down a person's friendship even
if you think he will not benefit you."
The Noble Qur'an says,"The hypocritical men andthe hypocritical women
are all alike; they enjoin evil and forbid good and withhold their
hands; they have forsaken Allah, so He has forsaken them; surely the
hypocrites are the transgressors." (Surah Al-Tawba, 9:67)
On the other hand, Noble Qur'an discusses the believers in the
followingmanner, "And (as for) thebelieving men and the believing
women, they are guardians of each other; they enjoin good and forbid
evil and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, and obey Allahand His
Messenger; (as for) these, Allah will showmercy to them; surely Allah
is Mighty, Wise." (Surah Al-Tawba, 9:71)
The two Qur'anic verses mentioned above only goto show how critical a
role friendship can play in our lives. A true friend then, is the one
who takes us closer to Allah's (SWT) compassion and grace.
Having deliberated at length on who should not be befriended, we shall
now see what kind of people should be befriended. Imam Jafar Sadiq
(as) narrates,"Friendship entails certaintrusts and duties. Then the
one who observes these obligations is a true friend and the one who
breaches this trust isunworthy of friendship. These obligations are as
follows;
1. He should be the same outside as he is inside. In other words, he
should not have a dual personality. (In this age however, we often
come across people who are exceptionally humble and modest on the
outside, with little, if any humility, on the inside)
2. He will consider your virtues as his virtues and your misdeeds as
his misdeeds. (In other words your virtues will cheer him and your
faultswill grieve him. God forbid, he must not feel relieved after
observing some vice in you, and take solace from the fact that he
himself is above that vice.)
3. If he acquires a position of power and authority, it must not bring
about a drastic change in his attitude. In other words, prosperity
must not transform the individual adversely. (There are some people
who make the best of friends in adversity. But apositive change in
their financial condition reveals a dark, hitherto unknown side of
their personality. On the other hand we see some people who make good
friends in prosperity, but misfortune transforms them, disclosing
their fickleness.)
4. He must give his friendship(with you) priority over all his worldly
possessions. In other words in times of adversity, he must be willing
to give his all to redeem you.
5. He must never leave you alone in times of misfortune and distress."

The miraculous measure in tides

Tides have such an effectthat they can even change living conditionsin
some regions of the Earth. People, who resume their lives after the
withdrawal of tides, arrange their entire livesaccording to tides. By
the Will of Allah, oceans rise up to a certain level. This way, they
never become a threat for localpeople.
Think of a water molecule in the ocean. This molecule is under the
influence of the force of gravity. However, the Moon also exerts a
weaker gravitational pull on thismolecule. The distance between the
Moon and the Earth and the Moon'ssmall mass are the principal causes
of this weaker pull of the Moon.This force of gravity of the Moon is
not only influential on this water molecule, but also on all objects
on the Earth. Yet,because all objects are not fluid like liquids,
there exists no apparent changes.
Every region of the Earthdoes not respond to this rise and fall of
oceans at the same rate. That is because the Moon's force of gravity
changes from place to place; the distance between the Moon and the
various points of the Earth is not the same. As a result of this
effective force on oceans, the water rises towards a certain
direction. As the Moon's position in relation to the Earth and the Sun
changes, this force diminishes and tidal regions occur where water
withdraws.
The Sun's gravitational pull also brings about a rise in the oceans.
However, this force affects the Earth by a rate of 1/3.
Because the Moon is nearer to the Earth than the Sun, despite the
Sun's big mass, the Moon's gravitational pullis two and a half times
stronger than the Sun.
No doubt, a tide is only one of the systems in theuniverse that our
All-Mighty Allah has created with flawless miracles. The sensitive
balance in the tide is notlimited to these. As the gravity of the Moon
causes oceans to rise, with a second force, oceans are also pulled
inthe opposite direction ofthe Moon that is towardsthe Earth. While
all of these occur , Earth continues to rotate around itselfs, so
there are two tides happen everyday. The times of tides vary in each
regionas the position of the Sun, the Moon and the Earth changes. For
instance in Northern
California, tides come in twice a day, while in the Mexican Gulf, it
happens only once, in the form ofjust one rise and fall.
LIFE STORIES FROM TIDAL REGIONS
97% of the water that covers more than 70% ofthe Earth is oceans.
According to data provided by the World Resources Institution (WRI),
40% of the world's population lives on the coasts surrounding this
water and from time to time, these people experience tsunamis, storms,
or tides that come into existence with the rise and fall of water.
Especially at regions where natural events such as tides happen, with
respect to the position of the Moon, local people take many
precautions and developvarious forms of living inorder to survive.
Street Fishing
- In tidal regions, sometimes highways arebuilt upon places where
water recedes. However,when water comes back,these highways turn
intoareas where local peoplefish and very interesting scenes occur.
This activity, which is called street fishing, is a way through which
the All-
Mighty Allah offers food from the sea, one of His blessings, to
people. In the Qur'an, our Lord states that He is the One Who bestows
His blessings in the sea:
"It is He Who made the sea subservient to you sothat you can eat fresh
flesh from it and bring out from it ornaments towear. And you see the
ships cleaving through itso that you can seek His bounty, and so that
hopefully you will show thanks."(Qur'an, 16: 71)
Horizontal Falls
The rapid movement of water also causes extraordinary situations such
as falls that flow horizontally.
Flawless Design Well-Matched with Circumstances
Most of the fish living in tidal regions have a structure resistant to
shallow and running water. While water recedes, they need to hide in
small holes so that they are not drifted with the water. They
canaccomplish this by their thin structure and height smaller than 20
cm.
Fins of fish in tidal regions have the design most suitable for their
living conditions. By the fins on their chests, they can hold onto
rocks. Their skin, on the other hand, is created to resist the
constant currents. Some of them have very few scales, whereas some
have none. Instead, various fish secrete a mucus-like fluid that
minimizes friction likely to happen during currents.
Aside from these flawlesstraits, fish living in tidal regions have an
amazing ability of camouflage. Some species constantly change color
where as some others, wherever they may be, can instantly gain the
color and patterns matching the environment.
Another miracle of design in the bodies of fish living in tidal
regions is the mechanism highly resistant to water loss. Thanks to
this mechanism, even if they lose 60% of their body water, they can
survive. The thick skin they have and the mucus they secrete, are the
components of this mechanism slowing down the water loss.
The Miraculous Respiration in Air With Gills …
For fish living in tidal regions, one of the most important problems
is the need for oxygen. Outside of water, gills donot function. But,
their short and thick gill fiberscan take the oxygen they need
directly from the air by the blood vessels concentrating around their
mouth and their skin.
For this reason, fish that remain in ponds can surface and thus meet
their urgent oxygen needs.
Another miraculous trait of tidal fish is their ability to find their
nest under every condition. Generally, most fish species choose a
certain place and live there. However, if they leave this place for
one reasonor another, they can alsoturn back. Older fish have more of
this talent.
Research has shown thatfish kept in the laboratory for as long as 6
months could find their nests back when they were left at sea.
No doubt, living beings having body designs matching the conditions in
tidal regions are only one of the evidences indicating that the
All-Mighty Allah created them. The All-Knowing Allah reveals the
evidence of His unique creation in every corner of the universe. Our
Lordstates in the Qur'an as follows:
"The Originator of the heavens and Earth. When He decides on
something, He just says to it, 'Be!' and it is."(Qur'an, 2:117)
What if the water recedes?
The answer to this question no doubt affects the lives of fish living
in tidal regions. The design of fish living in tidal regions is
perfectly adapted to the conditions in these areas. These
extraordinary designs are only one of the obvious evidences of thefact
that the All-Mighty Allah, Who created all the heavens and the Earth,
creates them in this way.
Tidal regions where ocean water covers twice a day and then recedes
offer very harsh conditions to the fish to survive. When water
recedes, fish that surviveunder rocks, in puddles, and muddy areas,
are generally well camouflaged by their colors matching with
theground. Besides, with the receding of water, they often become
utterly unnoticeable, for they hide under rocks orin-between plants.
Until recently, these fish were thought to be drifted to these regions
with waves. However, recent research has revealed that they were
created with designs appropriate to these tidal regions.
In Australia's Carumba region, water rises up to4.78 m. In Broadsound
town, on the other hand, this rise reaches up to 8 m. However these
figures are rather insignificant next to Australia's highest figures,
for in Derby, water rises up to an average of 11-12 m.
References:
http://www.abc.net.au/science /scribblygum/kingtide /gallery.htm
http://www.windows.ucar.edu /tour/link=/kids_space /earth_galore.html
http://www.abc.net.au/science /scribblygum/kingtide /default.htm
http://faculty.salisbury.edu /~jwhoward/astro108/html/ lec3.HTM
http://www.redtide.whoi.edu /hab/rtphotos/99hkredtide.jpg

The army-ant in technology

Then, when they reached the Valley of the Ants, an ant said: "Ants!
Enter your dwellings, so that Sulayman and his troops donot crush you
unwittingly." (Qur'an, 27:18)
The "Valley of the Ants" refers to a special place and special ants.
In addition, the fact that ProphetSulayman (as) could hear the ants
talking among themselves may contain striking references to future
developments in computer technology. The present-day term "Silicon
Valley" refers to the centre of the world of technology. It is most
significant that a "valley of the ants" appears in the account of
Prophet Sulayman's (as) life. Allah may be drawing our attention to
the advanced technology of the future.
Furthermore, ants and other insect species are widely used in advanced
technology as models in robot projects and are intended to serve in a
wide range of areas, from the defenceindustry to technology. The verse
may also be referring to these developments.
Latest Developments in Miniature Technology: Army-Ant Robots
The best known project using ants as a model are the "Army-Ant Robot"
projects being carried out independently in several countries. One
study being carried out by the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and
Virginia State University seeks to develop small, inexpensive, and
simple physically identical robots that can be used as a robot army.
Project officials explain these robots' functionality in the following
terms: "The way they behave as a group, in a coordinated manner,
perform a series of physical actions, and take joint decisions." These
robot armies' mechanical and electrical designs have been based on the
behaviour of an ant community. They are called the "army-ant" robots
because of their similarities to their insect counterparts.
The "army-ant" robot system was originally designed as a
"material-carrying system." According to this scenario, several small
robots would be charged with jointly lifting and carrying objects. It
was later decided that they could be used for other tasks. One report
describes other tasks to which they might be assigned in the future:
Nuclear and hazardous waste cleanup with robotic "swarms," mining
(including material removal and search-and-rescue),mine sweeping (both
land and water), surveillance and sentry, planetary surface
exploration and excavation. 1
In a report by Israel A. Wagner, an expert on ant robot technology,
the ant robot projects were described in theseterms:
Ant-robots are simple physical or virtual creatures designed to
cooperate in order to achieve a common goal. They are assumed to have
very limited resources of energy, sensing and computing, and to
communicate via traces left in the workspace or on the ground, like
many insects naturally do…
The distribution of work among multiple a(ge)nts can be made by either
a central controller who sends orders to the agents,or by an a-priori
agreement on acertain partitioning that, if obeyed by the agents,
eventuallyleads to a completion of the given mission. A third way,
used throughout the current work, is to design the behavior of
individuals such that cooperation will naturally emerge in the course
of their work, without making a-priori decisions on the structure of
thecooperation. The specific application that we address is covering,
which is also known asexploring or searching. This variety of names
hints to the many applications this problem might have: from cleaning
the floor of a house to mapping an unknown planet or demining a mine
field. 2
As can be seen in these examples, an ant's social lifestyle forms the
basis of many projects, and the various ant-based robot technologies
are providing benefits for human beings. That is why it is so
important that ants and theirvalley are referred to in the Qur'anic
account of Prophet Sulayman's (as) life. The term "ants" in the verse
may refer to an army consisting of robots, future developments in
robot technology, and how robots willplay an important role in
humanlife. For example, they may perform many arduous tasks and thus
make people's lives more comfortable. (Allah knows best.)