HOST (IN DARI): To the people of Afghanistan, peace not only means the friendly relationship between countries, but also lives in each person’s way of treating other people with respect, warmth and love. Day after day, peace is in the hospitality, courtesy, and good etiquette of each Afghan. Recently, we had a chance to learn more about this as we visited our Afghan friends Laila and Saadia...
HOST: As the hosts and the guests sat down to enjoy tea, delicious sweets and fruits, they explained their thoughts about peace and the tradition of respect in the Afghan culture.
It turns out, treating people with respect, making people feel at home, hosting strangers as guests with warmth and generosity – all these are part of the teaching of Islam. It’s a teaching about peace in daily life that has lasted for centuries.
(f): There’s a very important teaching from our Prophet Muhammad, Peace Be Upon Him, that basically had a saying that even if your enemy was to come to your door, you’re supposed to treat that guest as if he was a king in your own home, even if it was your enemy.
That emphasizes the point that hospitality is very, very, very important in our culture, due to our religion.
And I also know that learning about other cultures, other Islamic cultures, I feel like it is a hallmark. If [we] talk about any culture that’s within the Islamic world, they will always describe those people as hospitable.
Because that is a necessary requirement, it’s expected of a Muslim to be hospitable to everyone that comes to their door. .