By Idris Tawfiq
Islam never ceases to amaze those who would delve a little deeper than the sensational images they see on their television screens.
Far from being a threat to people in the West, the Islam they discover actually has something to contribute to make their own societies better places to be.
The rights of neighbours, for example, is just one topic where Muslims have something positive to contribute to their community.
“Worship Allah and associate nothing with Him, and to parents do good, and to relatives, orphans, the needy, the near neighbour, the neighbour farther away, the companion at your side, the traveler, and those whom your right hands possess. Indeed, Allah does not like those who are self-deluding and boastful.” (4:36)
Treating our neighbours well, then, is put in the same sentence as worshiping Allah. In fact, the way we do good to our neighbours is itself a form of worship.
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was once asked about this subject and his reply was as follows:
“Do you know what the rights of neighbours are? Help him if he asks your help; give him relief if he seeks your relief; lend him (money) if he needs a loan; show him concern if he is distressed; nurse him when he is ill; attend his funeral if he dies; congratulate him if he meets any good; sympathise with him if some calamity befalls him; do not block his surroundings by building high without his permission; harass him not; give him a share when you buy fruits, and if you do not give him, bring what you buy quietly and let not your children take them out to excite the jealousy of his children.” (Bukhari & Muslim)
Who is Your Neighbour?
What a better place our towns and cities would be if we could live this advice. This goes much further than the normal ideas about good-neighbourliness and requires Muslims to be infinitely attentive to the needs of their neighbours, looking out for them and actively seeking their good. And our neighbour, according to Islam, is not just the person who lives next door to us. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is said to have defined the “neighbour” in these words: “Your neighbour is 40 houses ahead of you and 40 houses at your back, 40 houses to your left and 40 houses to your right.”
Muslims don’t all live in one house. They live all over the town. So if we imagine the Muslim houses and forty houses either side of them in every town, we see that the Muslim community has a duty to care for all the people in the town, whether they are Muslim or not.
The rights which Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) ascribes to neighbours and the way Muslims should treat them are not meant for Muslim neighbours only. Of course, Muslims feel a special bond with other Muslims, so a Muslim neighbour has one more claim upon us, that of Islamic brotherhood, but so far as the rights of neighbours are concerned, all are equal.
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) describes it this way: neighbours are of three kinds: that one who has got one right upon you; that one who has got two rights upon you; and that one who has got three rights upon you. What did he mean?
The neighbour having three rights upon you is the one who is also a Muslim and a family member. The neighbour having two rights upon you is the one who is either a non-Muslim family member or a Muslim who is not a family member. The neighbour having one right is the one who is not a Muslim or a family member. However, he still has got all the claims of neighbourhood upon you and Muslims are to treat this neighbour in exactly the same way as those neighbours who are Muslims or family members.
In many towns and cities there are people who never leave their homes and who never speak to a single person from one day to the next. There are even people who die in their homes and no-one knows anything about their deaths. How sad this is. There is, of course, a difference between Islam and Muslims. Muslims believe that Islam is perfect and that it is the natural religion of mankind which has existed since the beginning of time. Muslims, on the other hand, are not perfect at all. We see evidence of this every day.
However, the beautiful thing about Islam is that it is possible to live in such a way. Muslims have the Quran for guidance, but they also have something else. The life and example of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is a living commentary on the Quran itself. When Muslims want to know how the verses of the Quran can be put into practice they look at the life of Muhammad (peace be upon him).
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), though, was not a god or a saint. He was a man. When foreign ambassadors used to visit the city of Madinah to speak with the Prophet (peace be upon him) they would go to the mosque to look for him.
“Which one is Muhammad,” they would ask, expecting him to sit on a special throne in the mosque or to be surrounded by guards or roped off with a silken rope.
The Muslims would simply point him out. “There he is,” they would say, “praying in rows with the other Muslims.”
This is what makes Islam livable. If Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) could live this Islam, then ordinary people like you and I can live it, too.
When asked to describe the character of the Prophet (PBUH), his young wife Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said he was “a walking Quran.” In his life he showed how Islam could be lived.
The way Muslims should treat their neighbours, then, is not just some idealistic dream. If the man Muhammad (PBUH) could live this way, then so can everyone else.
The Prophet said that “God will not provide security to the person who sleeps with a full stomach while his adjacent neighbour is hungry.” (Abu Hurairah) It is as serious as that and Islam, when properly lived, is such a blessing as that to our own societies. The people of London or Paris or New York are not likely to open a Quran or visit a mosque to learn about Islam. The only Quran they will ever see are the Muslims in their midst.
By treating their neighbours well, Muslims can show to their neighbours how beautiful and gentle and sweet Islam really is. insha Allah.www.onislam.net
