Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi
Haq al-Jar
- Author died
- 748 AH
- Editions
- Dār 'Ālam al-Kutub lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzī'
Haq al-Jar (Arabic: حق الجار, lit. 'The Right of the Neighbor') is a specialized ethical and hadith treatise by the Syrian traditionist and historian Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi (673–748 AH / 1274–1348 CE), addressing the legal and moral obligations owed to neighbors in Islamic tradition .
Subject and Content
The treatise compiles prophetic traditions, narrations, and ethical directives concerning the rights of neighbors, the virtue of maintaining amicable relations, and the prohibition of inflicting harm upon them . Al-Dhahabi explains that prophetic warnings—such as the declaration that Gabriel repeatedly enjoined kindness toward neighbors until the Prophet believed he would grant them inheritance rights—serve to emphasize the magnitude of neighborly duties and to stress the obligation of benevolence while avoiding every form of injury .
In addition to collecting hadiths on neighborly conduct—such as visiting the sick, attending funerals, extending loans, sharing food, and avoiding obstructive construction without permission—al-Dhahabi offers practical counsel regarding diverse social situations :
- Neighbors of corrupt character: He advises taking precautions or moving away if a neighbor lacks moral rectitude, lest they cause corruption or harm to one's household .
- Heretical neighbors: When dealing with a Rafidite or an innovator, one should attempt to guide them if possible; otherwise, one should distance oneself and avoid close companionship, with relocation being preferable .
- Non-Muslim neighbors: If a neighbor is Jewish or Christian in a residential area, market, or orchard, one must treat them with fairness and decency (al-maʿrūf) and refrain from harming them . He cites the traditional tripartite division of neighbors: a Muslim relative with three rights (kinship, Islam, and neighborhood), a non-relative Muslim with two rights (Islam and neighborhood), and a non-Muslim with one right (neighborhood) .
Hadith Criticism and Method
As a critical hadith scholar, al-Dhahabi rigorously analyzes the chains of transmission (asānīd) of the narrations he compiles in the treatise:
- Regarding the narration of Ibn Abbas, ما آمن بي من بات شبعان وجاره طاوٍ إلى جنبه ("He has not believed in me who spends the night satiated while his neighbor beside him is hungry"), recorded via Ibn Adi, al-Dhahabi notes that the narrator Hakim ibn Jubayr is weak (ḍaʿīf), although the report possesses supporting corroboration (shāhid) . A parallel chain through Ismail ibn Ayyash from Layth is declared flimsy (wāhin) .
- On the comprehensive enumeration of neighborly duties transmitted from Abu Hurayrah through Ismail ibn Rafi', al-Dhahabi evaluates Ismail as feeble (wāhin) .
- On the narration transmitted from Mu'adh ibn Jabal, he grades the chain as broken (munqaṭiʿ) .
- On the chain related by Bahz ibn Hakim via Abu Bakr al-Hudhali, he classifies it as flimsy (sanad wāhin) .
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