Neighborly Duties in Islam: Preferential Treatment
Islam claims to promote brotherhood, justice, and compassion for all people. However, Islamic teachings explicitly establish a hierarchy of obligations toward neighbors based on their religious identity. This system of preferential treatment contradicts claims of Islamic universalism and reveals a faith deeply concerned with maintaining in-group loyalty over genuine human solidarity.
The Quranic Foundation
The Quran mentions the rights of neighbors but doesn't specify that these rights differ based on religion:
"Worship Allah and associate nothing with Him, and to parents do good, and to relatives, orphans, the needy, the near neighbor, the neighbor farther away, the companion at your side, the traveler, and those whom your right hands possess. Indeed, Allah does not like those who are self-deluding and boastful." (Quran 4:36)
This verse establishes the importance of treating neighbors well but leaves the details to prophetic tradition (hadith) and scholarly interpretation. It's in these sources that the discriminatory hierarchy emerges clearly.
The Hadith Evidence: A Three-Tier System
Muhammad explicitly taught that neighbors have different levels of rights based on whether they are Muslim and whether they are relatives:
"The best of companions with Allah is the one who is best to his companion, and the best of neighbors with Allah is the one who is best to his neighbor." (Sunan al-Tirmidhi 1944)
This sounds universal until you examine the details. Muhammad clarified that neighbor rights exist in a hierarchy:
"Jibril kept urging me to be kind to neighbors until I thought he would tell me that a neighbor has a share of inheritance. The neighbor who is a relative has three rights: the rights of a relative, the rights of a neighbor and the rights of Islam. The neighbor who is Muslim but not a relative has two rights: the rights of a neighbor and the rights of Islam. The neighbor who is a non-Muslim has one right: the rights of a neighbor." (Authenticated in various hadith collections)
This establishes a clear ranking:
- Tier 1: Muslim relatives (three rights)
- Tier 2: Muslim non-relatives (two rights)
- Tier 3: Non-Muslim neighbors (one right)
Abu Dawud records a similar hadith where Muhammad said: "The neighbor who is nearest has more right than the neighbor who is farther away, and the companion has more right than the stranger." (Sunan Abu Dawud 5152)
While proximity matters, religious identity matters more in determining the depth and priority of obligation.
What These "Rights" Mean in Practice
Islamic scholars have elaborated on what these different levels of rights entail. The "right of Islam" mentioned for Muslim neighbors includes:
- Visiting when sick
- Following their funeral procession
- Congratulating them on joyous occasions
- Advising them in religious matters
- Helping them financially when in need
- Defending their honor
Non-Muslim neighbors receive basic courtesy—not harming them, returning greetings (though with restrictions), and basic civility—but not the full range of brotherly obligations extended to Muslims.
Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, the great hadith commentator, explained that the "right of Islam" includes religious brotherhood and mutual support in faith. By definition, this excludes non-Muslims from the deeper levels of community obligation.
The Philosophical Foundation: Loyalty and Disavowal
This hierarchical system of neighborly duties stems from a broader Islamic principle called "al-wala' wal-bara'" (loyalty and disavowal). This doctrine teaches that Muslims must maintain loyalty to fellow Muslims and distance themselves from non-Muslims.
The Quran states:
"Let not believers take disbelievers as allies rather than believers. And whoever [of you] does that has nothing with Allah, except when taking precaution against them in prudence. And Allah warns you of Himself, and to Allah is the [final] destination." (Quran 3:28)
"O you who have believed, do not take the Jews and the Christians as allies. They are [in fact] allies of one another. And whoever is an ally to them among you - then indeed, he is [one] of them. Indeed, Allah guides not the wrongdoing people." (Quran 5:51)
These verses have been interpreted by mainstream Islamic scholars to mean that Muslims should not form deep emotional bonds or loyalties with non-Muslims. While surface-level civility is permitted (and sometimes required), true brotherhood and preferential treatment are reserved for fellow Muslims.
Ibn Taymiyyah, one of Islam's most influential scholars, wrote extensively on this topic, arguing that loving non-Muslims in the same way one loves Muslims is prohibited. He distinguished between fair treatment (which is required) and emotional loyalty (which must be reserved for Muslims).
Modern Applications and Consequences
This teaching has practical consequences in Muslim-majority societies. Non-Muslim minorities often report feeling like second-class citizens, excluded from the deeper networks of community support that Muslims provide for each other.
In personal relationships, Muslim families often discourage close friendships between their children and non-Muslim peers, citing these religious principles. While Muslims are encouraged to be "good neighbors" to non-Muslims, they're cautioned against the kind of intimate friendship and loyalty that characterizes relationships between Muslims.
The renowned Islamic scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi, often cited as a moderate voice, has written that while Muslims should be just and kind to non-Muslims, there are limits: "Islam teaches us to be kind to non-Muslims who do not fight us, but kindness does not mean we have to love them as we love our Muslim brothers."
The Apologetic Response
When confronted with these teachings, Muslim apologists often make several arguments:
Argument 1: "This just means Muslims have additional religious obligations to each other; it doesn't mean we mistreat non-Muslims."
Response: While technically true, this misses the point. The issue isn't whether non-Muslims are actively mistreated, but whether a truly just and universal moral system creates hierarchies based on religious identity. If your moral framework systematically devalues relationships with people of other faiths, that's problematic regardless of whether you still show them basic civility.
Argument 2: "Every religion favors its own members. Christians do this too."
Response: This is factually incorrect regarding Christianity, as we'll see below. More importantly, even if it were true, it would be a tu quoque fallacy—pointing out others' flaws doesn't justify your own.
Argument 3: "Islam still requires good treatment of non-Muslim neighbors, so what's the problem?"
Response: The problem is the explicit teaching that non-Muslims deserve less consideration and loyalty than Muslims, based solely on their religious identity. This contradicts claims that Islam promotes universal human dignity and equality.
Biblical Contrast: The Radical Command to Love
The Christian approach to neighbors stands in stark opposition to this Islamic hierarchy. Jesus revolutionized the concept of neighborly love in ways that shattered all tribal, ethnic, and religious boundaries.
When asked "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus responded with the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). In this story, a Jewish man is beaten and left for death. Two Jewish religious leaders pass by without helping. Finally, a Samaritan—a member of a group despised by Jews as heretics and enemies—stops to help, paying for the victim's recovery from his own pocket.
Jesus's point was revolutionary: your neighbor is anyone in need, regardless of their religion, ethnicity, or relationship to you. The Samaritan wasn't the Jewish man's co-religionist, friend, or ally. He was, by the standards of that time, an enemy. Yet he showed true neighborly love.
Jesus went further, commanding love even for enemies:
"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?" (Matthew 5:43-47)
Notice Jesus's argument: loving only those who love you back—showing preference to your own group—is what pagans do. It's what any natural, unredeemed human does. Christians are called to something higher: reflecting God's indiscriminate love by loving without regard to whether the love is returned or deserved.
Paul reinforced this universal ethic: "Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers" (Galatians 6:10). The word "especially" (Greek: malista) means "particularly" or "most of all," not "exclusively." Christians should do good to everyone, with particular attention to fellow believers—but never to the exclusion of others.
The early church was known throughout the Roman Empire for caring for everyone during plagues and disasters, including pagans who worshiped false gods and even active persecutors of Christianity. This wasn't strategic; it was the natural outflow of imitating a God who loves all people.
Questions to Consider
- Does a God of universal justice and love really establish different levels of obligation toward neighbors based on their religion?
- What does it say about Islamic ethics that a non-Muslim neighbor, no matter how kind or virtuous, is deemed worthy of less loyalty and care than a Muslim stranger?
- If Islam truly promotes universal brotherhood, why does it teach that Muslims should maintain deeper bonds with fellow Muslims than with non-Muslim neighbors?
- How can a religion claim to be a universal faith while teaching that religious identity determines the depth of neighborly obligation?
- Which approach better reflects divine love: a hierarchical system based on religious affiliation, or a call to love all people equally, even enemies?
- If you were a religious minority in a Muslim-majority community, how would you feel knowing your Muslim neighbors are taught that you deserve less loyalty and support than their Muslim neighbors?
- Does the Islamic system of preferential treatment toward Muslim neighbors promote genuine community harmony, or does it reinforce religious divisions?
- What kind of God would create humanity with different intrinsic worth based on their religious beliefs?