“choose your neighbor before choosing your residence,” is a widespread arabic proverb that means that it is according to the value and merit of the neighbor that the price of the residence should be estimated. a good neighbor is a source of happiness.

islam considers the rights of the neighbor to be extremely important. the angel jibreel (gabriel) continued to urge the prophet, , to treat neighbors with kindness until he thought that the sharee'ah would assign him a share of his neighbor's inheritance. the prophet, , said: “jibreel kept on recommending me to treat neighbors kindly and politely so that i thought that allaah would order [me] to make them [my] heirs.”the quran recommends treating neighbors kindly. allaah the almighty says (what means): {worship allaah and associate nothing with him, and to parents do good, and to relatives, orphans, the needy, the near neighbor, the neighbor farther away, the companion at your side…} [quran 4:36] look how the prophet, , exhorted muslims to be good to their neighbors and to honor them when he said: “… and whoever believes in allaah and the last day, should serve his neighbor generously.” the narration of muslim states: “should be good to his neighbor.”

the matter reached the degree that loving goodness for one’s neighbor is considered a part of faith under the sharee'ah. the prophet, , said: “by the one in whose hands[1] my soul is, no slave of allaah has true faith unless he likes for his neighbor what he likes for himself.” a person who is good to his neighbor is the best of people in the sight of allaah the almighty, as the prophet said: “the best companion in the sight of allaah is the one who is best to his companion, and the best neighbor in the sight of allaah is the one who is the best to his neighbor.”

2-    refraining from harming him: in fact, this is one of the greatest rights of neighbors. harming anyone, in general, is unlawful; however, this ruling is intensified if the harm befalls the neighbor. the prophet, , strictly warned, in various ways, about harming the neighbor. the prophet, , said: “by allaah, he is not a believer! by allaah, he is not a believer! by allaah, he is not a believer.” it was asked, “who, o messenger of allaah?” he said: “one whose neighbor does not feel safe from his evil.”when it was said to him: “o messenger of allaah, a woman performs voluntary prayers at night and fasts during the day, but she offends her neighbors with her tongue.” he said: “there is no good in her; she is in hell.” the prophet, , also said: “he does not enter paradise whose neighbor is not secure from his evil.”

a man came to the prophet, , complaining about the harm of his neighbor. the prophet, , said to him: “put your belongings in the road.” the man did so, and whenever people passed by him and asked him why he had done so, and came to know about how his neighbor was harming him, they cursed this neighbor. then, the bad neighbor came to the messenger of allaah, , complaining about the people cursing him. the messenger of allaah, , said: “allaah has cursed you before the people did.”

al-hasan said: “being a good neighbor is not by refraining from harming; rather, being a good neighbor is to bear harm.”

4-    pursuing and accomplishing his needs: the messenger, , said: “he who spends the night satiated while knowing that his next door neighbor is hungry does not truly believe in me.” the righteous predecessors would check upon their neighbors and make efforts to fulfill their needs. sometimes a companion of the prophet, , would receive a gift and then send it to his neighbor, who would send it to another neighbor, who would send it to another neighbor, and it would circulate around more than ten houses until it finally reached the first one again. when ‘abdullaah ibn ‘umar slaughtered a sheep, he said to his servant, “when you skin it, begin [distributing it] by going to our jewish neighbor.” ‘aa’ishah asked the messenger of allaah, , “i have two neighbors, to which of them should i offer a gift?''he replied:“to the one whose door is nearer to you.”

finally, we should be aware that happiness, unity and the spread of love among the members of a society cannot be accomplished without observing these rights and others which are brought by the sharee’ah. the reality of many people proves that these rights are being neglected, to the extent that they may not know the name of their next door neighbor. some people usurp the rights of their neighbors and may even betray their neighbors and trifle with their honor and the honor of their women. this is surely the gravest of the grave major sins. the prophet, , was asked: “what is the greatest sin?” in his answer he mentioned: “to commit adultery with your neighbor’s wife.”

 

________________________________

[1]   we believe in and affirm the attributes of allaah that occur in the quran and authentic hadeeths of the prophet, , without distorting their wordings or meanings, nor denying them, nor asking how they are, nor drawing resemblance between allaah and any of his creation.