The Right of Neighbours
In Gilan, there once live a very pious man called Sheikh Abdul Qadir. Sheikh AbdulQadir was a very patient and kindly man. He needed to have a cool and calm temper-ament because his next door neighbour was a Jew who liked to play practical jokes.He was rather mischievous person, this neighbour, and whenever the Sheikh said hisprayers, he played music to disturb him. This would have made any other person veryangry and there could have been many arguments. But not with Sheikh Abdul Qadir.Instead, he bore all the disturbances and all the mischievous pranks of his neighbour patiently. He never compla-ined to the J ew about the noise, nor did he let anyone elsestop his neighbour from playing his music.But one day, the Jew was arrested by the police in Gilan and was put in jail. Off course, with his neighbour in jail, the Sheikh had no one to disturb his prayers. Hewas able to pray quietly, without noise or disturbance. The Sheikh was rather relievednot to be disturbed, but then he remembered that the had not seen the Jew for severaldays. Where was he? Had he gone away on a journey? Was he ill?Sheikh Abdul Qadir decided to find out what was the matter. He asked some of hisother neighbours about it and was very shocked to hear what they had to say.‘Your neighbour, the Jew is in jail !’ they told him.‘What for?’ asked the Sheikh. ‘What has he done?’Nobody seemed to know for certain. One neighbour said something about the policeno being able to prove the Jew had committed a crime - but even this he was notsure about.‘This is dreadful !’ said the Sheikh. ‘I cannot stand by and do nothing when myneighbour has been arrested. I did not even know about it !’In slam, a Muslim takes care of his neighbour as he does his own family. Rememberingthis, the Sheikh hurried to the courthouse in Gilan to see that local judge. TheSheikh told the judge about his neighbour’s arrest and offered to help.‘If my neighbour can be freed by paying some fine’ the Sheikh said, ‘I am ready to payit. But I have heard that no crime has been proved against him. If you would look uphis file and the police record of his arrest, then perhaps you could find out thetruth and whether he can be freed.’The judge knew the Sheikh very well, and thought very highly of him. ‘I will look at therecords, as you request,’ said the judge. ‘And then I will let you know what I have foundout.’The judge acted straight away. He sent for the Jew’s record and studied it carefully.Then, he told the Sheikh ; ‘You are quite right. The Jew is not guilty of any crime.’ The judge then said in a very cross voice, ‘Really, this is too bad, why was this man putin jail when he was innocent? He must be freed at once!The Jew who had been astounded to find himself arrested for no apparent reason wasust as surprised when suddenly a policeman came to the door of his cell and let himout.‘What is going on?’ said the Jew. ‘One moment you put me in jail, then you set me free- how has all this come about?’The policeman told him what had happened, and how Sheikh Abdul Qadir hadpleaded with the judge on his behalf and obtained his release. The Jew felt rather ashamed for having been such a nuisance and caused all that trouble for the Sheikh. Hewent straight from the jail to the Sheikh’s house and apologised to him.‘Oh Sheikh’ said the Jew, ‘I have always been brother to you. I kept disturbing youwhile you were saying your prayers and making lot of noise. On the other hand, youhave been very good to me and have taken so much trouble on my behalf. Your aretruly a good man. Please forgive me. I promise I will never annoy you or disturb youagain !’
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