“Worship God, and ascribe no partners to Him, and be good to the parents, and the relatives, and the orphans, and the poor, and the neighbor next door, and the distant neighbor, and the close associate, and the traveler, and your servants. God does not love the arrogant showoff.” (Quran 4:36)
Ibn ‘Umar and ‘Aishah (May Allah be pleased with them) reported: Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, “Jibril kept recommending treating neighbors with kindness until I thought he would assign a share of inheritance”. [Al-Bukhari and Muslim].
It is highly encouraged in the Quran and Hadith to treat our neighbors with kindness, yet in this day and age most of us live in our bubbles, without interacting much with our neighbors except a drive way greetings when we see each other.
According to Pew Research (2014), 62% Americans do not know a single Muslim in their life. It is important for all of us to reach out to our neighbors and be kind and helpful as everyone is going through stress and hardship due to the pandemic.
Islamic Center of Richmond is conducting a campaign to encourage the Muslims to reach out to their neighbors. To make it easy for you, ICR has prepared a message card that can be shared with your neighbor along with a gift basket or a cookie box. You may pick the cards and cookie box from the Masjid to share it with your neighbor or You may print them and share with your own gift basket.
Email us at neighbor-outreach@icrva.org to pick up the boxes and cards from the Masjid. Just mention how many you need.
May Allah grant us the ability to reach out and to be a means of support to our neighbors.