Islam encourages us to respect and honour our neighbours which is to foster peace and unity in the society. Our neighbours have some rights over us which we are expected to fulfill our duty as Muslims.
Our beloved Prophet (S.A.W) also enjoins us to be kind and generous to our neighbours even if we they do not practice the same religion with us.
Our duty to our neighbors include meeting the following right:
- You must help him if he asks for your help.
2. Give him relief if he seeks your relief.
3. Lend him if he needs a loan.
4. Do not block his air by raising your building high without his permission.
5. Do not harass him.
6. Give him a share when you buy fruits; if you do not, bring what you buy quietly and let not your children take them out to excite the jealousy of his children.
7. You must visit (and take care of) him when he is ill.
8. You must attend his funeral when he dies (and take part in burial arrangements)
9. If he commits a sin, prevent it from being known.
10. Congratulate him if he is met with good fortune.
11. Grieve in sympathy if a calamity befalls him.
When a member of your community is in need, danger or illness or calamity has fallen on him, it is your duty as a Muslim to reach out and offer them help (regardless of the neighbor’s faith or background). To fail to do this is to fail in our duty to our neighbors, and is to leave a gaping hole in the Ummah.
May Allah grant us the ease and strength to fulfill our rights, guide us to the right path and grant us Jannah in hereafter.
