Have you ever had the opportunity to change a person’s mood with a kind gesture? It is the greatest feeling in the world. Not only because you know you made the person happy, but you know that inshallah you will be rewarded by Allah SWT for doing an act of kindness.
Ahmed and I had a tray of baklava from Masri Sweets that was given to us from a friend. We didn’t want to keep it in the house because we knew we would demolish it in a matter of days! So I started thinking of what I could do with it. And I thought it would be a great thing to give to my neighbors and at the same time do a little dawah.
I wrote each neighbor a note that said the following…
Thanks for being a great neighbor!
Here is a small sweet treat for being a great neighbor. Our religion of Islam holds the neighbor in a special status. The following is a saying of the Prophet Muhammad regarding neighbors…
“The finest in the sight of God is the person who is best to his friends. And the finest in the sight of God is the person who is best to his neighbor.”
Enjoy the baklava!
Your neighbors,
Farah, Ahmed, & Isra
Apt #206
For more information on Islam visit http://islamtomorrow.com
I made two plates with a variety of baklava and attached the note on top. It was about midnight when I had Ahmed go put the sweets by their doors. I was so happy that we took the initiative to do something like this, but at the same time I was nervous to find out how they would react to my note.
The next morning we woke up and saw that the neighbors received their gifts and when we looked on our door we had a note from one of them. It said the following…
Farah, Ahmed, & Isra,
Thank you so much for the baklava and especially the very kind and sweet thoughts. Its been a pleasure being your neighbor and I look forward to our friendship. If I could bake, I would return the kindness!! Instead…maybe coffee/tea and good conversation.
Thank you so much!!!
Joe
That evening Joe stopped by and said when he woke up that morning he was in a really bad mood, but as he stepped outside to see a little surprise and a kind note he said it totally made his day!
A few days later we received a special little package in front of our door with a note from our other neighbor. It said the following…
Dear Farah, Ahmed, and Baby Isra,
I thank you and honor the respect you show for your neighbor through you religion, Islam. I am a better person for having shared this with you. I will be moving on Saturday and will carry forth the saying of the Prophet Muhammad and show respect to my new neighbor as well.With this mind please accept my ‘Haystacks,’ a sweet chocolate treat!
Thank you again to you and your little family!
Toni
It took a total of about 15 minutes to do this small act of dawah. When Muslims to things like this, non-Muslims will see the true nature of a Muslim, that they are not what is portrayed on T.V. It is our duty as Muslims to invite others to our deen, we will be asked on the day of judgment of whether or not we invited our neighbors and informed them about Islam. So don’t wait any longer, take the next opportunity you get and do a random act of kindness with your neighbors because,
“The finest in the sight of Allah is the person who is best to his friend, and the finest in the sight of Allah is the person who is best to his neighbor.”
May Allah give our Non-Muslim neighbors the taufiq to accept Islam. Ameen!
March 28th, 2008 at 11:01 pm
What happened to the remaining Baklava ? :0
I am so glad we did this and you pushed us to do it.
March 30th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
It’s a amazing how far a small act of kindness can take you.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala reward you and your family, ameen.
March 31st, 2008 at 12:58 am
Salaamu Alaikum,
Wow, awsome mA. I feel sometimes we are really scared/nervous about approaching our neighbours and just people in general with random acts of kindness. The responses you got encourages me to do more for my neighbours.
Thanks, Jazakallah Khair.
March 31st, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Very uplifting story Farah. Who knew that a box of baklava could go so very far.
March 31st, 2008 at 7:53 pm
SubhanaAllah. I am so glad I got curious and clicked on your blog to see this act of dawah and read what you’ve done sister Farah. You have indeed brought up a very simple and easy way of doing dawah “a random act of kindness.” This is awesome mA and may Allah reward you and your family greatly for this, inshaAllah.
April 5th, 2008 at 12:24 am
Salaam Farah, this is awesome masha’Allah! I absolutely love the baklava-dawah-neighbor idea. Good food is one of the best ways to start dawah; who can say no?
I LOVE THE BLOG!
April 7th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Ya who can? Food is everyone’s weak spot
Glad you’re enjoying the blog, subscribe to get updates inshallah 
May 16th, 2008 at 9:36 am
Your Bakhlava story is really very inspiring ! It made me realise how very little do I fulfill my duties towards Islam. Thanks a lot for your blog…its the best blog I have visited so far
June 9th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
Salam Sister
A few days ago my new neighbor came over while my children played with their new water toys in our back yard. Seeing my almost 2 year old happily waddling in his little pool; she began to happily tell me about some scrap book pages she had been working on for her 3 year old nephew and how much he liked spiderman. She said she was going to send him a page everyday; then her face saddened as she told me he had leukemia. I said some comforting words and then she left. I thought alhumdulilah that Allah has protected me from such pain and thought nothing more of it, but reading your baklava story and challenged by another blogger I now know how to reach out to this neighbor. Inshallah I will not only reach out to her, but to the parents of the sick child as well. I also have a neighbor whom my husband had promised some ice tea to, guess I’ll be busy this week. Thanks
salam
June 11th, 2008 at 9:57 am
Assalamu Alaikum,
I agree with (and have implemented) such jestures in my own time and place, however, I had an experience once that left me jolted. It seemed that my neighbor thought the kind jesture was something to be suspect of, and I found the ‘gift’ in a nearby trash bin. It was unsettling, but gave me ‘food’ for thought…not everyone sees things the same way we do sometimes…
Ma’Salaama.