The Quran

Preface

۞ وَاعبُدُوا اللَّهَ وَلا تُشرِكوا بِهِ شَيئًا ۖ وَبِالوالِدَينِ إِحسانًا وَبِذِي القُربىٰ وَاليَتامىٰ وَالمَساكينِ وَالجارِ ذِي القُربىٰ وَالجارِ الجُنُبِ وَالصّاحِبِ بِالجَنبِ وَابنِ السَّبيلِ وَما مَلَكَت أَيمانُكُم ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لا يُحِبُّ مَن كانَ مُختالًا فَخورًا

Yusuf Ali

Serve God, and join not¹ any partners with Him; and do good- to parents, kinsfolk, orphans, those in need, neighbours who are near,² neighbours who are strangers, the companion by your side,³ the wayfarer (ye meet), and what your right hands possess:⁴ For God loveth not the arrogant, the vainglorious;-⁵

The essence of Islam is to serve God and do good to your fellow-creatures. This is wider and more comprehensive than “Love God and love your neighbour”. For it includes duties to animals as our fellow-creatures, and emphasises practical service rather than sentiment.
Neighbours who are near: that is, in local situation as well as intimate relationships, just as neighbours who are strangers includes those whom we do not know or who live away from us or in a different sphere altogether.
The Companion by your side may be your intimate friends and associates, just as the wayfarer you meet may be a carnal acquaintance on your travels. This last is much wider than the “stranger within your gate.”
What your right hands possess: For the meaning of the phrase see n. 537 above. (R).
Real deeds of service and kindness proceed, not from showing off or from a superior sort of condescension (Cf. “White Man’s Burden”), but from a frank recognition of our own humility and the real claims, before God, of all our fellow-creatures. For in our mutual needs we are equal before God, or perhaps the best of us (as the world sees us) may be worse than the worst of us (from the same point of view).