An Afghan refugee’s generosity towards his neighbour went viral on social media and triggered many other similar stories about Muslim neighbourliness.
As we all know, in Islam we have a duty to look out for our neighbours. And this story captures exactly how Muslims in the UK are keeping alive the community spirit.
The man, who recently arrived to the UK from Afghanistan, found out that his neighbour had surgery and was ill so he sent her a substantial amount of food, which included homemade bread and yoghurt.
“One of my neighbours is afghan,” tweeted journalist Sunday Blake.
“He fled a few weeks ago, leaving his entire family. He asked in broken English last week why I looked skinny (ESL – forgave him). I said I’d recently had surgery & was ill.”
“He just dropped this around. All homemade, including the yoghurt & bread.”
She added in a subsequent tweet that she thought it was “a beautiful gesture of community in sharing some of his culture as an act of care.”
Muslim neighbourliness
The post went viral with over 58k likes and high praise for the Afghan neighbour. It also triggered other stories of acts of kindness from Muslims.
Here are just some of the heartwarming replies that followed the tweet.
“When my MIL (mother-in-law) was terminally ill, the only people outside family to visit her in the hospice were her Pakistani neighbours. She always said they were the best neighbours she could wish for & as it turned out, she was correct.”
“In the aftermath of Grenfell, Muslim & Sikh groups were ever present, helping those in need, really putting their faith into action. The very first responders on the night of the fire were Muslim, this is absolutely typical as I’ve seen on numerous other occasions.”
“Reminds me of when we had to clear out my uncle’s house after he died. His Pakistani neighbours kept checking in with us as we came and went and eventually said we should go in for some tea. Thinking tea and biccies, we walked in to find loads of samosas, pilau rice, chicken etc.”
“My neighbor’s (sic) are Bangladeshi and dropped this off end of Ramadan.”
“I had to attend a car reposession (sic) from a Muslim family recently, not a very nice job but the family invited me and the driver in for dinner, a full spread was on the laid table including drinks.
“Bloody foreigners… Coming here, being incredibly lovely to their neighbours and cooking them a delicious spread!”
“If you’re in trouble or hurt or need – go to poor people. They’re the only ones that’ll help–the only ones.” John Steinbeck, Grapes of Wrath.”
