Neighbours

Arabic Proverb:

الْجَارُ قَبْلَ الدَّارِ وَالرَّفِيقُ قَبْلَ الطَّرِيقِ
“[Choose] your neighbour (JAAR),
before your home (DAAR),
And your companion/friend (RAFEEQ),
before your road/journey (TAREEQ).”

Meaning: Before you buy/rent a house, find out who your neighbours are.

Before you agree to go on a journey, find a good travel companion.

When the believing wife of the Pharaoh was oppressed, she said:

“My Lord, build for me NEAR YOU, a HOUSE in Paradise.” [Qur’an 66:11].

Imam Ibn Kathir says in his Tafsir of this Ayah:

فقولها : ( رب ابن لي عندك بيتا في الجنة )
قال العلماء : اختارت الجار قبل الدار

“The scholars said:
She choose her neigbour (JAAR),
before her house (DAAR).”