THE LOVE AND IMPORTANCE OF CATS IN ISLAM
Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)
was tender and kind towards cats. He (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)
appreciated cats. Hazrat Muhammad (peace
and blessings of Allah be upon him) 's
favorite cat was called Muezza. There is a well-known story regarding
the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and Muezza.
When the call to prayers was heard, Muezza was asleep on one
of the sleeves of the Prophet’s (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)
robes. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) wanted to wear
the robe to go to prayers. Rather than disturb Muezza, Muhammad (peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him) robes cut off the sleeve to leave Muezza in
peace. Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) then stroked the cat
three times, which, it is said, granted Muezza seven lives and the ability to
land on his feet at all times (as you might know, cats have a self-righting
mechanism, a righting reflex, which is a complex series of movements when a cat
falls and which protects the cat from breaking her back).
Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon
him)was so attached to his cat that when he gave sermons he let Muezza rest on
his lap and he also drank from water previously drunk by his cat. He (peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him) also did his ablutions from the same water that
was drunk by a cat. He (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) seemed to treat his cat in the same way as
cat lovers do today but even cat lovers might think twice about drinking the
same water that had been drunk by a cat for fear of transmission of disease
from the cat’s saliva (but see below).
Islam teaches Muslims to treat cats well and that the cat is
a creature to be cherished and loved. Mistreating a cat is regarded as a severe
sin in Islam.
Cats according to the Qur`an and Sunnah
An example as to how Muslims are punished for mistreating
cats can be found in the `ahadith (oral traditions telling the story of the
Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and which have been
recorded in writing). When a woman kept a cat locked up and failed to feed the
cat until the cat died, the woman was tortured and "put to hell.”
Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that
Allah's Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:
“A woman was tormented because of a cat which she had
confined until it died and she had to get into Hell. She did not allow it
either to eat or drink as it was confined, nor did she free it so that it might
eat the insects of the earth”. (Sahih
Muslim)
It is believed that you will suffer no harm if you drink
from the cat’s water provided no impurities are seen in the cat’s mouth. In
another story from the `ahadith, it is stated that a when a cat ate a pudding
put down during prayers, the person who was in charge of the pudding ate from
the same place as the cat and Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon
him) said this was alright as the cat is not unclean and is "one of those
who go around amongst us".
Narrated Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her), Ummul
Mu'minin:
“Dawud ibn Salih ibn Dinar at-Tammar quoted his mother as
saying that her mistress sent her with some pudding (harisah) to Aisha who was
offering prayer. She made a sign to me to place it down. A cat came and ate
some of it, but when Aisha finished her prayer, she ate from the place where
the cat had eaten. She stated: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of
Allah be upon him) said:“It is not unclean: it is one of those who go round
among you”. She added: “I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of
Allah be upon him) performing ablution
from the water left over by the cat”.” (Abu Dawood)
Islam teaches Muslims that, in relation to a cat:
1.) The cat should not be sold for money or other traded
goods.
Narrated Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him): "The
Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) prohibited eating
the cat and from its price."(Jami` at-Tirmidhi)
Abu Zubair (may Allah be pleased with him) said:
I asked Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him) about the
price of a dog and a cat; he said: “Allah's Messenger (peace and blessings of
Allah be upon him) disapproved of that”. (Sahih Muslim)
2.) Cats saliva is harmless unless the cat has "visible
impurities" in the mouth.
Yahya related to me from Malik from Ishaq ibn Abdullah ibn
Abi Talha from Humayda bint Abi Ubayda ibn Farwa that her maternal aunt Kabsha
bint Kab ibn Malik, who was the wife of the son of Abu Qatada al-Ansari, told
her that once Abu Qatada was visiting her and she poured out some water for him
to do wudu with. Just then a cat came to drink from it, so he tilted the vessel
towards it to let it drink. Kabsha continued, "He saw me looking at him
and said, 'Are you surprised, daughter of my brother?' I said, 'Yes.' He
replied that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace,
said, cats are not impure. They intermingle with you’. "
Yahya said that Malik said, "There is no harm in that
unless one sees impurities on the cat's mouth." (Muwatta Malik)
Humaidah bint Ubaid bin Rifa'ah (may Allah be pleased with
her) narrated:
"Kabshah bint Ka'b bin Malik - she was (married) with
Ibn Abi Qatadah - narrated "That Abu Qatadah visited her, [so she said:]
'So I poured water for him to use for Wudu.' She said: 'A cat came to drink, so
he lowered he container until it drank.' Kabshah said: 'So he saw me looking at
it and said, "O my niece! Are you surprised at that?" So I said
yes.He said: "Indeed Allah's Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be
upon him) said 'It is not impure, it is only one of those roam around among
you.'" (Jami` at-Tirmidhi)
3.) Muslims are free to live with cats but they must treat
cats well, providing the cat with enough water and food and giving
"roaming time" (a degree of freedom of movement)
It was narrated from Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with
him) that:
The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon
him)said: "Cats do not invalidate the prayer, because they are one of the
things that are useful in the house." (Sunan Ibn Majah)
'A good deed done to an animal is as meritorious as a good
deed done to a human being, while an act of cruelty to an animal is as bad as
an act of cruelty to a human being'
Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) was a close
Companion of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)
and has narrated more hadiths, or sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him), than any other Companion. He (may Allah be
pleased with him) was known for being very sympathetic and loving towards
animals so much so that although his name was `Abdur-Rahman, he was known as
Abu Hurayrah, meaning “father of the kitten.” He (may Allah be pleased with
her) was called so because of a small cat that he used to feed and care for and
carry with him everywhere he went.
("Cat" word comes from the Arabic word qit/Hirra
but a tiny male cat is called hurayrah, or thus In Arabic, Hirra means cat and
Hurayra means a kitten.)
link : http://islam.ru/en/content/story/love-and-importance-cats-islam
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