Kindness to the Non-Muslim Neighbor

Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. This questioner says: I have a neighbor who is a disbeliever, one of the Hindus. I treat him kindly at times by offering him food and smiling at him, with the aim of encouraging him to embrace Islam. He asks: What is the standard for dealing with a disbelieving neighbor?

Answer:
It is what you mentioned: you treat him kindly, you treat him kindly, and you are gentle with him, so that perhaps Allah will guide him to Islam. The neighbor has a right, even if he is a disbeliever; he has the right of neighborliness. Neighbors are of different types. There is a neighbor who has three rights: the right of neighborliness, the right of Islam, and the right of kinship. There is a neighbor who has two rights: the non-relative neighbor, who has the right of neighborliness and the right of Islam. And there is a neighbor who has one right: the non-Muslim neighbor, who has only the right of neighborliness. Yes.