“Whoever does not avoid the companionship of a fool will...

“Whoever does not avoid the companionship of a fool will come close to adopting his behavior.” [^3] These traditions point out that man is influenced by his friends and will adopt their behavior. If his friends are stupid or wicked, then he will unknowingly adopt their behavior and act like them. The fact that the physicians have pointed out about contagious diseases is not limited to physical illnesses. Some mental illnesses are contagious too.

When Imam Ali said: “… your nature will unknowingly adopt their wickedness…” he referred exactly to this fact. In addition, when Imam Sadiq said: “Whoever associates with bad friends will not remain sound…” he referred to this fact too. The Consequences of Becoming Friends with a Fool As an example of the consequences of becoming friends with a fool, consider the following story. A person needed to dig a well in his yard asked someone to come and dig one for him.

A large amount of dirt was dug out of the well and piled up in the yard. He wondered what to do with that dirt. He went to a friend of his to ask for advice. His friend was a fool! He told him to dig another well in the yard and then throw the dirt from the first one in it. He did the same, but ended up with a large amount of dirt from the second well piled up on the other side of his yard. He went to his friend again to ask for more advice.

His friend told him to simply pour the dirt from the second well he had dug into the first one! As another example, consider the following story. Once a cow stuck his head into a large earthenware jar to eat, but his head was stuck in it. The owner thought for a while, but he could not find a way to get the cow’s head out of the jar. Then he went to the magistrate to get help.

The magistrate came to the place where the cow was and ordered the cow’s head to be cut off once he saw what had happened. They cut off the cow’s head and it fell in the jar. They tried to bring it out but did not manage to do so. Then the magistrate ordered them to break the jar to get it out. Therefore, the jar was broken and the cow’s head was chopped off too. This is the result of following the advice of a fool!