Islam lays a great emphasis on the virtue of neighborliness, stressing on Muslims’ individual duty to be good to their neighbors.
In Leeds, West Yorkshire, members of a local mosque have offered a helping hand to their neighboring church taking it upon themselves to clean up its abandoned grounds.
The team from Abu Huraira Mosque in Beeston suburb of Leeds cleaned the area around the adjacent Holy Spirit Church on Tempest Road.
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As the Church of England plan to sell the church building, the small garden, which houses a war memorial, has become overgrown and the site has attracted litter.
Organizing the cleanup, Noor Zaman said helping the neighbor is a key manner in Islam.
“We are neighbors to the church and as it says in both the Bible and the Qur’an: neighbors should look after one another,” Zaman told South Leeds Life.
Islam encourages Muslims to treat their neighbors in a gentle way that reflects the true and genuine spirit of Islam as exemplified in its tolerant aspect especially with people of other faiths.
It makes no difference whether the neighbors are Muslim or non-Muslim.
Allah has emphasized – rather, commanded – goodness to neighbors in the Quran when He said
…And do good to parents, kinsfolk, orphans, the poor, the neighbor who is near (of kin), the neighbor who is a stranger… (Quran 4:36)
The prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said:
If anyone is pleased to love Allah and His Messenger, or rather to have Allah and His Messenger love him, he should speak the truth when he tells anything, fulfill his trust when he is put in a position of trust, and be a good neighbor.