Islam and Human Rights — Page 108
Isl am and Hum an R ights 108 actually paid by him for the premises. Great stress is laid in Islam on kindness to and benevo lence towards a neighbour. “Worship Allah and associate naught with Him, and behave benevolently towards parents, kindred, orphans and the needy, and the neighbour that is a kinsman and the neighbour that is a stranger, and the com panion by your side and the wayfarer, and those whom your right hands possess. Surely, Allah loves not the proud and the boastful, who are niggardly and enjoin people to be niggardly and conceal that which Allah has bestowed upon them of His bounty” (4:37-38). The Prophet laid repeated stress on the duty owed to a neighbour. He said on one occasion, “So often and so much has God impressed upon me the duty owed to a neighbour that I began to think that a neighbour might perhaps be named an heir”. 58 In his Farewell Address he declared, “Your lives, your properties and your honour are declared sacred as the sanct ity attaching to this day (the day of Pilgrimage) and this month and this spot”. 59 58 Bukhari IV, Sect. :Good Behaviour, Ch. :Benevolence towards Neighbours. 59 Hanbal V, p. 411.