Book Name:Parosi ki Ahmiyat

A command to be good towards 9 types of people

Allah says in verse 36 of Sūrah Nisā:

وَ اعۡبُدُوا  اللّٰہَ وَ لَا تُشۡرِکُوۡا بِہٖ شَیۡئًا وَّ بِالۡوَالِدَیۡنِ  اِحۡسَانًا وَّ بِذِی الۡقُرۡبٰی وَ الۡیَتٰمٰی وَ الۡمَسٰکِیۡنِ وَ الۡجَارِ ذِی الۡقُرۡبٰی وَ الۡجَارِ الۡجُنُبِ وَ الصَّاحِبِ بِالۡجَنۡۢبِ وَ ابۡنِ السَّبِیۡلِ ۙ       وَ مَا مَلَکَتۡ اَیۡمَانُکُمۡ ؕ      اِنَّ اللّٰہَ لَا یُحِبُّ مَنۡ  کَانَ  مُخۡتَالًا  فَخُوۡرَا (ۙ۳۶)

Translation from Kanz al-Iman: And worship Allah and associate no one with Him; and be good to parents, and relatives, and orphans, and the needy, and the near neighbour and the distant neighbour, and the close companion and the traveller, and your male and female slaves. Indeed, Allah does not like the arrogant, the boastful.[1]

This verse commands us to be good with 9 types of people. Two of them are الۡجَارِ ذِی الۡقُرۡبٰی (the close neighbour) and الۡجَارِ الۡجُنُبِ (the distant neighbour).

Who are close and distant neighbours?

One type of neighbour is he whose walls are connected with your home, but your two doors are distant from each other. For example, your house is on a street and behind your house, on a different street, is another house. The back walls of both houses are touching each other. In this case, you will be distant neighbours. If the doors of the homes are near each other, then you will be near neighbours. The distance of doors from one another indicates whether you are near or distant neighbours.

Umm al-Muʾminīn Sayyidatunā ʿĀishah Ṣiddīqah رَضِیَ اللهُ عَنْهَا explains, “One day, I inquired, ‘O Messenger of Allah صَلَّى الـلّٰـهُ عَلَيْهِ وَاٰلِهٖ وَسَلَّم ! I have two


 

 



[1] Al-Quran, 4:36