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People of my generation tend to have a little ditty secured firmly in our minds thanks to an Australian soap-opera that ran for the duration of our childhood: “Neighbours: everybody needs good neighbours.” It was never going to win anyone a Grammy, but it was a word of truth all the same.

In the Islamic tradition—as in its Christian counterpart—a huge emphasis is placed on the rights of our neighbours. There is a well known hadith in the Sunan of Abu Dawood in which a man who had slaughtered a sheep for food asked, ‘Have you presented a gift from it to my Jewish neighbour, for I heard the Apostle of God (peace be upon him) say: “Gabriel kept on commending the neighbour to me so that I thought he would make him an heir”?’ Likewise, in Sahih Muslim we have, ‘The Messenger of God (peace be upon him) said: “He will not enter Paradise whose neighbour is not secure from his wrongful conduct”.’ Indeed, in Sahih Bukhari we find that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said:

‘Anybody who believes in God and the Last Day should serve his neighbour generously, and anybody who believes in God and the Last Day should serve his guest generously by giving him his reward.’ It was asked, ‘What is his reward, O God’s Apostle?’ He said, ‘To be entertained generously for a day and a night with high quality food and the guest has the right to be entertained for three days with ordinary food and if he stays longer, what he will be provided with will be regarded as Sadaqa. And anybody who believes in God and the Last Day should talk what is good or keep quiet.’

Alhamdulilah, my wife and I have been blessed with beautiful neighbours. Over the past few weeks they have been an immense help to us. Alan has been helping me with various tasks in the garden. Although he is forty-three years my senior, he is still much stronger than I am. A job that defeated me over several weeks, he completed in an afternoon. A couple of weeks ago he helped me put up a new fence at the front of my house and now he wants to help me take apart a rotting out-house at the back. His wife, Dorothy, frequently picks flowers from her garden and brings them round for my wife to decorate our home. We are truly blessed.

On the first day of Ramadan, our neighbour invited us for Iftar. You read correctly: our non-Muslim neighbours prepared a vegetarian meal for us and awaited our arrival just after 8.00pm. Alan became a Christian with the Plymouth Brethren many years ago but now attends the local Methodist Church with his wife. Their faith is important to them. They start each meal with a prayer and mention God often in their home. Alan loves dates, eating them everyday, so we took that great provision of Ramadan with us as a gift for him that night.

Alan and Dorothy talk about their faith a lot, but we do not mind. I personally find it interesting, and in turn they ask us about ours. There is a lot we can learn from these neighbours of ours: of their childhood during the Second World War, of their years as parents and grandparents, of their losses and pain and hardship, and of this living faith of theirs. In sharing with one another we gain immense bounties.

God is forever generous. Most of us have heard how Rabbi Hillel summarised the Torah as to love your neighbour as yourself—‘everything else is commentary’—and how Jesus summarised the greatest of God’s commandments in the gospel cannon: ‘The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength’ and ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ The emphasis on neighbourliness in the teachings of our Prophet (peace be upon him) indicate that the position of Islam is the same.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) told one of his companions: ‘Whenever you cook food, increase its content, and take care of your neighbours.’ He also said, ‘He will not enter paradise whose neighbour is not safe from him.’ And he said:

‘The rights of the neighbour is that, when he is sick you visit him; when he dies, you go to his funeral; when he is poor you lend to him; when he is in need you protect him; when he is happy you congratulate him; when he is struck with a calamity, you console him; don’t raise your building above his to cut off the wind from him; don’t harm him with the good smell of your food unless you let him have part of it.’

It has often been said that neighbourliness is next to Godliness. Well this is certainly the lesson of faith. But it is also the lesson of a good neighbour. A good neighbour brings peace, contentment and happiness. A good neighbour brings light. And, if blessed with a very good neighbour it brings so much more: the bounties of God beyond reckoning.

May God bless you in this Month of Mercy!