🚪 Neighbours · for grown-ups
The neighbour's door
What it's about
In a block of flats, neighbours are close by: next door, above, below. This manner is about greeting, sharing and not causing trouble (noise, mess, shoes in the corridor). If you share food with neighbours who are not Muslim, it is a lovely moment to talk about how kindness is for everyone.
What Allah says
۞ وَٱعْبُدُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَلَا تُشْرِكُوا۟ بِهِۦ شَيْـًۭٔا ۖ وَبِٱلْوَٰلِدَيْنِ إِحْسَٰنًۭا وَبِذِى ٱلْقُرْبَىٰ وَٱلْيَتَٰمَىٰ وَٱلْمَسَٰكِينِ وَٱلْجَارِ ذِى ٱلْقُرْبَىٰ وَٱلْجَارِ ٱلْجُنُبِ وَٱلصَّاحِبِ بِٱلْجَنۢبِ وَٱبْنِ ٱلسَّبِيلِ وَمَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَٰنُكُمْ ۗ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ مَن كَانَ مُخْتَالًۭا فَخُورًا
Serve Allah, and join not any partners with Him; and do good- to parents, kinsfolk, orphans, those in need, neighbours who are near, neighbours who are strangers, the companion by your side, the wayfarer (ye meet), and what your right hands possess: For Allah loveth not the arrogant, the vainglorious;-
Allah asks us to be good to our neighbours. Greeting them, sharing with them, and keeping the corridor clean and quiet are ways to do it.
2 hadith are waiting for the asatizah to confirm the reference and grading before it is shown here.
Things to talk about
- How do you think Aunty Lim felt when she opened the door?
- Your neighbour's grocery bag splits open by the lift. What would you do?
- It's late at night, and you want to bounce your ball in the flat. What would you do?
- Your family has extra food after a party. What would you do?
- Allah asks us to be good to neighbours: those who live close to us, and those we don't know well. Who are your neighbours?
Every family is different
Every family is different. Some children live with one parent, with grandparents, with a step-parent or with a guardian. Whoever cares for your child, the same love and good manners apply: change “Mama” and “Abah” in the stories to the people in your child's life.