If you praise someone and a listener remains silent in response, it indicates that the listener is not truly the praised person’s friend.

You can also tell that a person is not another’s friend if they respond to your praise in certain ways. These include diverting the conversation elsewhere, speaking halfheartedly or reluctantly, diminishing the praise, claiming the story is inconsistent, attributing part of the praise to others, or failing to enhance your praise despite knowing about a praiseworthy deed. Other indications that a person is not a genuine friend include: dismissing a deed as a chance occurrence, attributing it to God’s extraordinary providence, claiming that others have accomplished equal or greater feats, or suggesting that it was achieved through the counsel of another.

To test a person’s true disposition towards their friend, you may forge letters pretending to be from the friend and send them to that person, asking for something to be entrusted. The recipient’s response to this request will reveal whether their disposition towards the friend is favorable or not.

When greeting a person, do so in the name of another friend or mention that you heard someone speak ill of the person you are greeting. This will allow you to observe their reaction and see what they add to the conversation.