Kindness to animals in Islam

The religion of Islam has always viewed animals as a special part of God's creation.

The Holy Qur'an, the Hadith (Muslim religious texts), and the history of Islamic civilization offer many
examples of kindness, mercy, and compassion for animals. Muslims are taught to follow Prophet
Mohammad exemplary behaviour on kindness to animals.

Islam holds a special place for cats as being lovable and cherished creatures, and hitting or mistreating a
cat is seen as a sin. In the Islamic world, cats was respected and protected because cats were loved by
Prophet Muhammad.

One story mentioned that a cat saved Prophet Muhammad from being bitten by a deadly snake. There
was also a famous story of Prophet Muhammad called to prayer and he found his cat Muezza asleep on
the sleeve of his robe. Instead of disturbing the cat, he cut off the sleeve and let the cat sleep.

A companion of the Prophet was given the name Abu Hurairah. The name Abu Hurairah means 'father of
the cats'. Abu Hurairah was given this name because where ever he goes, he always had a kitten with
him.
In Hadith (Muslim religious text) of Sahih Bukhari, Vol. 4, Book 56, Number 673, narrated by Abu Huraira:
The Prophet said, "While a dog was going round a well and was about to die of thirst, an Israeli prostitute
saw it and took off her shoe and watered it. So Allah forgave her because of that good deed."

In another Hadith text, the Prophet told his companions of a woman who would be sent to Hell for
having locked up a cat; not feeding it, nor even releasing it so that it could feed herself."

During a journey the Prophet left his companion for a while. During his absence, his companion saw a
bird called hummara and took two young ones away from the mother bird. The mother bird was circling
above in the air, beating its wings in grief, when the Prophet came back and said: "Who has hurt the
feelings of this bird by taking its young? Return them to her". The Prophet companion then replaced the
offspring in the same bush.

During another journey, somebody picked up some birds eggs. The bird's painful note and fluttering
attracted the attention of the Prophet, who asked the man to restore the eggs to the nest.

The Prophet also mentioned "To catch birds and imprison them in cages without any special purpose is
considered abominable." This means if you have birds living in cages, set them free.
On the way to a battle, the Prophet army marched towards Makkah (now known as Mecca) to conquer
it, they passed a female dog with puppies. The Prophet not only gave orders that the mother dog and
puppies should not be hurt or disturbed, but posted a man to see that this was done.

One of the sayings of the Holy Prophet Muhammad is: "If you must kill, kill without torture." (La taqtolu
bi'l-idha'i). While pronouncing this dictum, he did not name any animal as an exception - not even any
noxious or venomous creature, such as scorpions and snakes.

Prophet Muhammad and Islam religion not only preached to the people to show kindness to each other
but also to all living souls. Animals are to be respected and treated humanely.

Prophet Muhammad forbade blood sport (like cock fighting, animal fighting) which is cruelty to the
animals. The Prophet also forbade his Muslim followers not to hunt for game sports, like shooting birds
and animals with bows and arrows. The killing of animals for sporting purposes like hunting is strictly
forbidden.

In a demonstration of unparalleled care towards animals no matter their size or significance, a

companion of the Prophet name Adiyi bin Hatim used to take crumbs of bread and other foods and
deposit them at the entry to ant holes so the ants could feed. This rare gesture of kindness was
performed in realisation of the fact that ants also formed a neighbourhood with human beings.
Prophet Muhammad forbade the practice of cutting tails and manes of horses and of keeping horses
saddled unnecessarily. It was forbidden to kick horses with one's feet unnecessarily while riding them.
The Prophet also wrote to those who had been given responsibility to look after the rights of animals to
highlight that it was forbidden to tighten the rein of a horse. It is forbidden to stay long on the back of
an animal (Horse, Donkey, and Camel) when it is not in motion. The Prophet is reported to remarked on
this cruelty as "Do not turn your animals into chair".

The Prophet also prohibit branding animals with hot iron bars. Once the Prophet passed by an animal
that was marked in this way and said: "May Almighty Allah curse the person who marked this animal".

The Prophet mentioned that beast of burden like camels, ox, donkeys, horses, elephants etc. are not
allowed to carry load that is too heavy and should be well fed and watered. Whenever the Prophet saw
any animal over-loaded or ill-fed he would approached the owner and said, "Fear Allah in your ill
treatment of animals."

The Islamic Shariah law very strongly forbids the overloading of animals. Among the laws governing
overloading of animals, there are also laid down rules on the renting of animals to carry goods with
penalties for any one renting an animal if found overloading the animal.

It was reported in a hadith (Muslim religious text) that once the Prophet entered a garden and saw a
camel. When the camel saw the Prophet, it started crying with tears coming out of its eyes. The Prophet
approached the camel and rubbed off the tears asking, "Who is the owner of this camel". The owner
replied "It is mine, Oh Prophet of Allah". The Prophet then said "Don't you fear Allah in these animals
which the Almighty made you owners? Indeed your animal complained to me that you starve and
overwork it".
Sterilisation of cats is not against the teachings of Islam religion. The Islamic Religious Council of
Singapore or M.U.I.S. (Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura) is supportive of cats sterilisation. The MUIS Fatwa
Committee states: "Fundamentally, all mazhabs (Schools of Islamic Jurisprudence) allow the sterilisation
of animals.

After analysing the arguments and position of the different mazhabs and medical opinion from the
Society of Prevention of Cruelty Againts Animals (SPCA), the Fatwa committee decides that sterilising
cats on the basis of 'maslahat' (general good) is harus (permissible)."

The tenets of the Islam Shariah law towards animals rights make it obligatory for any individual to take
care of any crippled animal like a blind cat that appears at their doorsteps. It is Wajib (necessary) upon
every individual owning animals to spend on them, providing food and everything else required for their
good up keep. Do not abandon your pets and look after the well being of your sick pets. Pet ownership
is a life-long commitment.

Islam expressly lays down rights for animals entitling them to the right of love and mercy. Cruelty to
animals in Islam is treated with grave contempt and the harshest of penalties, the fire of hell is accorded
any individual whoever dares to be cruel to animals.
It is mentioned in a Hadith: Animals do pray to Allah as other creations do.

Prophet Mohammad repeatedly forbade cruelty to animals, saying in the Hadith popular tradition,
"Whoever is kind to the creatures of God is kind to himself."

He who is not kind to God's creatures, and to his own children, God will not be kind to him.

Similarly, Mohammed taught "A good deed done to a beast is as good as doing good to a human being;
while an act of cruelty to a beast is as bad as an act of cruelty to a human being."

Kindness to animals brings a reward to the kind person. The Prophet was asked if acts of charity even to
the animals were rewarded by God. He replied: '"Yes, there is a reward for acts of charity to every beast
alive."

Henceforth if you see a hungry stray, feed it and watered it. Show compassion towards the strays.

The Prophet stated "Verily, there is heavenly reward for every act of kindness done to a living animal".

Be kind to animals and heaven is your reward.