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A Good Friend in Islam /31

                  It is safe to say here that the foundations of friendship
               have been laid through the lives of the early humans and
               thus it is nothing less than a law of nature itself. However
               it is important to state here that all human interaction does
               not necessarily end in a positive and mutually beneficial
               relationship.
                  Stronger relationships call for sacrifices, emotional and
               logical  control,  teamwork  and  leadership  as  and  when
               required. White (2015) describing the characteristics of a
               positive  and  quality  friend  says  that  generally  across
               cultures,  i)  honesty,  ii)  dependability,  iii)  loyalty,  iv)
               trustworthiness,  v)  empathy,  vi)  listening  skills,  vii)  the
               ability to be non-judgmental, viii) supportive behavior, ix)
               the ability to be fun, and x) self-confidence are important
               and  determining  elements.  Apart  from  this,  the
               relationship  of  friendship  itself  should  be  unconditional
               and committed (Argintar, 2014).
                  Further  noting  the  impacts  of  high  quality  friendship
               Berndt  (2002)  states  that:  a  high  quality  friendship  is
               related  to  higher  levels  of  pro-social  behavior  and
               intimacy  and  lower  levels  of  conflict,  negative  emotions
               and  rivalry.  This  implies  that  in  the  presence  of  quality
               friendships,  a  person  is  more  likely  to  have  a  satisfied
               emotional and social life with significantly lesser levels of
               stressful elements as compared to in its absence.
                  Within  the  field  of  developmental  psychology  a
               research  conducted  by  Ladd  et  al  (1996)  took  data  from
               kindergarten  children  and  studied  the  impacts  of
               friendships  on  their  feelings,  perceptions  and  behaviors.
               The research findings revealed that the children who had
               high quality friendships in January reported greater liking
               from the school and higher levels of perceived classmates’
               support.
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