Dr. Kamil Ashraf; Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, JNMC A.M.U

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   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 one should evaluate the residence. Has this image of a neighbor lost its relevance in today's world: a world where people are busy night and day to make their ends meet; where children seldom get any time out of their competitive life, academic or extracurricular; or where even the retired grandparents don't have time for the neighbors because they are busy taking care of the children even as their parents are busy working? If these are genuine reasons for us becoming indifferent towards our neighbors, can we justify, with the same arguments, the situations where people seem to have lost the family values, where the love, bonding and respect between family members has deteriorated, especially towards the elderly members?
   The queries need to be analyzed. With these questions in mind I recall my childhood, memories of which are full of my neighborhood as much as those of my home and school. To date some of my neighbors in my native town are no less than a blood relative. Their views and opinions on many of my family's private matters are respectfully invited and considered. Neither we need to take permission to enter their house nor do they. The small children and even the toddlers would spend the whole day in the neighborhood without the parents becoming anxious. Any special food cooked in one house would surely be sent to other household in the neighborhood. People coming from distant places would bring gifts for their neighbors as they would for their family. Safety of the house when one went out for vacations was never a big concern because the neighbors were there to look after that. And at times of sickness or grief there was whole of the locality to share the burden.
   What has gone wrong over the years? People hardly ever exchange greetings with their neighbors, barring on some occasional events, when it is more of a formality than a true wish. Leave aside gifts, which would bear some cost, people don't even exchange smile which comes for free, yet it's priceless. We don't even want our neighbors to invite us for an informal dinner for the fear that we will have to reciprocate. Today, we like to leave our small children at a creche with unknown people at some distant place rather than leaving them with the known people residing nearby. It is the trust in the neighbors which has got lost. So we try to keep ourselves to our home. Neither we discuss our problems with the neighbors nor do we want them to discuss any of theirs with us. Actually, the fear is not baseless. If we generalize the scenario, it is actually the overall falling human values which have contributed towards the distance created between neighbors in the process of so-called socio-economic development.
   With frequent reports of children suffering abuse at the hands of persons residing nearby, which parent would dare to leave their child alone with the neighbors? With cases of property dispute with the neighbors becoming common news we hear these days, who would leave their vacant houses on the trust of the neighbors when they go out? This is high time we realize that we have entered into a very grave situation where we are running for an economic security but in the process are leaving behind the social security, of which the neighborhood is an indispensable component. The situation must improve for humans to keep themselves being called as humans. Even the animals maintain some degree of respect for their community which is same as our neighbors for all practical purposes.
   The above discussion would appear as a document on the duties a good neighbor has towards us. No expectation from others is justified without an act of service to them. So it's a give-and-take scenario where one has to be a good neighbor before having one of the same kind. Neighbors have important rights over another. Different religions of the world have also described the importance of neighbors. Islam pays attention to the issue of neighbors, whether they are Muslim or not, because of the interests served by that in making the nation like one body. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: Jib reel kept on enjoining the good treatment of neighbors to the extent that I thought that he would include neighbors as heirs. (Agreed upon. Narrated by Muslim, 2625)
   Among the rights of one neighbor over another as affirmed by Islam are the initiation of greetings, visiting him if he is sick, offering condolences if calamity befalls him, congratulating him at times of joy, overlooking his mistakes, concealing his faults, bearing his annoyance with patience, giving him gifts, lending him money if he needs it, lowering one's gaze from looking at his womenfolk, and guiding him to that which will benefit him in his religious and worldly affairs. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: The best of companions with Allah is the one who is best to his companion, and the best of neighbors with Him is the one who is best to his neighbor.(Narrated by al-Bukhara in al - Adab al Mufrad, 115) Concerning neighbors' rights, Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): Worship Allah and join none with him (in worship); and do good to parents, kinsfolk, orphans, Al Masaakeen (the poor), the neighbor who is near of kin, the neighbor who is a stranger, the companion by your side . . . [al-Nisaa' 4:36] Islam warns against annoying one's neighbors or treating them badly. The Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) explained that this would lead to being deprived of Paradise: He will not enter Paradise from whose harm his neighbor is not safe. (Agreed upon. Narrated by Muslim, 64). Thus, we should be aware that happiness, unity and the spread of love among the members of a society cannot be accomplished without observing the rights of a neighbor and thereby becoming a good neighbor.

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