Good Neighbourliness
By the grace of Allah I
continue today on the subject of the Friday Sermons I had done three weeks back
(09 & 16 October 2015), and today it is the third part of my sermon on the
topic of “Khidmat-e-Khalq” (Service to Humanity).
So, this is a vast
subject and we can ponder much over it, especially on the kind of society our
master Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) had created and prepared carefully. We can have
an idea of this through the small
advices that He gave us. Thus, according to the Hadiths, Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh)
had talked about a very important
subject, that is to say, to take great care of our neighbours. He (pbuh) said
that no one, especially women, should look down upon their neighbours. Women (Muslim
women) must establish a connection with their neighbours, even if it is through
a leg of goat she offers them as a gift.
It is certainly a very
pure advice that our prophet (pbuh) gave us and there is in this advice extraordinary
eloquence. He said not to consider the neighbours as inferior to you. He lets
you know that through gifts, you honour the neighbours, especially those who
are closest to you (to your homes). If you do not offer gifts to your neighbours,
then it means that they have no value (they mean nothing to you) in your eyes.
And it is usually in human culture to have a tendency to give gifts to people
of the same social rank than themselves or to those who are superior to them
(in rank). And so, they forget to honour those who have the lowermost status or
are less affluent and lower in rank than them. This should start with the
lowest level and continue at the highest level. In terms of human relations,
gift-giving is a culture inherent to humans. And usually they frequent the
circles of people that form part of their own (social) order or those who are
superior to them. But the Quran has given a very important advice against this.
Love and Sacrifice
The Quran says that
when you spend something for the cause of Allah, then you must ensure that this
expenditure does not flow only among yourselves. This expenditure (for His
cause, in His path) must reach those who are below you (in respect to social
status), or in other words, those who are in need. If you are doing this action
for the cause of Allah, then you must keep in mind that all humans are
creatures of Allah (and deserve the same treatment), lest these good deeds that
you do to your relatives or even to your neighbours but only for ostentation,
such as present them with gifts etc. will be in vain. Thus, it will become an
action that will appeal only to your ego, your passion, your own self (nafs) and not to Allah.
As Allah says in the Quran: “And they give food in spite of love for it
to the needy, the orphan, and the captive, (Saying), ‘We feed you only for the countenance of Allah. We wish not from you
reward or gratitude’.” (76: 9-10)