No I am not talking about the soap Neighbours on Channel 5 but your actual neighbours.
How many of you know your neighbours? Chat to them? Look after them?
Talking to a few of my friends it seems that not many have much to do with their neighbours. They rarely see them and sometimes even when they see them they do not speak to them.
Alhamdulillah I am fortunate that I have quiet neighbours. There is an middle aged couple on one side who in all honesty I do not have much to do with but say hello when we see them. On my other side is an elderly lady who I initally thought of as a ‘dragon’ because she is someone you do not mess with!! She even told my hubby’s driving instructor off once when hubby was asleep and the instructor was banging on the door to wake him up: ‘He obviously is not going to open the door so there is no reason to keep banging on the door.’
Ooops.
However she does look out for us and looks out for our house when we go abroad. I even left my back door open in one mad moment while I went to work and she rang me as she was concerned something had happened. (Nothing escapes her notice!)
At the moment I really feel sorry for her. She has fallen out with her daughters and recently had an operation. Her daughters do not know. I was tempted to tell them but it is clearly not my place. You can tell it is affecting my neighbour but she is pretending to be strong. My hubby took her to the hospital and also picked her up. We have been getting her things she needs and yesterday I took her to the doctor. I must admit I was slightly annoyed by that because her appointment was at 11am and she phoned me at 10.30. Munchkin and mysef were still in our pyjamas and I was about to get in the shower. She offered to take a taxi but I could not let her go alone after she had mentioned it. She had not told me sooner as she thought she may be able to manage. So I threw on yesterdays clothes and literally got ready in 10 minutes. I don’t think baby was too happy with me rushing around as got quite a few harsh kicks!
Now she wants to pay me for taking her. I am the kind of person who will not except payment for helping someone out, no matter how much it may have inconvenienced me, I guess it is also part of my culture and the way I was brought up. But I do know that my neighbour likes to pay her way and feel she may get offended if I do not accept money. But if I do it will make ME feel awkward. Not sure how I am going to get out of this one. Hmmmm.
The point I am trying to make in my roundabout way is that we should look out for our neighbours and make the effort where we can. You live next to these people so why not get to know them? Befriend them? If that is too much then at least say hello to them.
In Islam neighbours are important:
Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah’s Apostle said, “Anybody who believes in Allah and the Last Day should not harm his neighbor, and anybody who believes in Allah and the Last Day should entertain his guest generously and anybody who believes in Allah and the Last Day should talk what is good or keep quiet (i.e. abstain from all kinds of evil and dirty talk).” – Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 8, Number 47
I also found this video on Youtube which I had to share.
Very interesting Foz. I remember when we were young, we had good relationships with our neighbours, my mum and dad were very keen to create with people this sense of being part of the same world.
Here in Dublin it's very different. If you live in houses, people tend to be friendly with each other. But in flats, most of the time my hello or good evening stays in the air and I don't get any answer. Weird. It was the same in Paris. It was like people were worried if we say hello we had to become friends.
I hope one day I will live in a place where people feel that neighbourhood relationships are as important as other forms od relationships.
Have a lovely day! xx
Asalamu alaikum,
JazakAllah khair for sharing this wonderful post on nieghbours.
I have a new video up come see š