PROPHET MUHAMMAD (MAY ALLAH SHOWER HIM WITH BLESSING AND MAY PEACE RETAIN ON HIS SIDE AMEEN)
A Mercy for all Creatures
Mercy for Animals
Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) was kind to every living creature and
this kindness knew no limits. He was very kind to animals as well. Arabs,
like all ignorant and illiterate people, were very unkind to their animals.
It was very common in Arabia to put a collar round the neck of a camel, but
this practice was stopped on the Prophet's orders. People used to cut pieces
of flesh from living animals and cook and eat them. This common practice was
forbidden.
It was also forbidden to shear their hair or tails. Prophet Muhammad said
that the tail was the brush and fan of these animals and hair was their
quilt. He also forbade people to keep animals tied to their working
equipment for a long time and said, "Don't make the backs of animals your
chairs." Animal fights were also made unlawful. Another custom was to tie up
an animal and practice arrow shooting on it. This was also prohibited.
Once Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) saw a donkey on the road with a
brand on its face, and said, "Allah's curse is on him who branded it." As
people had to brand their camels and sheep in order to identify them, they
were told to brand them on parts which were not so tender. Anas reported
that he went into a herd of sheep and saw Allah's Messenger branding them on
the ears.
Once the Prophet was on a journey with his companions and they stopped for
rest at a certain place. A bird had laid an egg there. A man took away the
egg and the bird began beating her wings in a state of great distress. The
Prophet enquired who had hurt her by taking her egg. When the man admitted
that he had done that, the Prophet asked him to return the egg to the nest.
A companion who had some baby birds wrapped in a piece of cloth came to the
Prophet. On enquiry, he told Prophet Muhammad, "I heard a noise from a bush,
went there, saw these chicks, and took then out. When their mother saw what
had happened, she began to hover over my head." The Prophet told him to go
back and return the chicks.
Once he saw a camel on the road, whose belly had shrunk so much because of
extreme hunger that it had become one with its back. He said, "Fear Allah in
your treatment of these animals who cannot speak." Muhammad himself fed
animals, tied carriers and milked goats.
Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) once told a story to his companions.
There was a man who went on a journey and on his way felt very thirsty. He
found a well and went down into it and drank water. When he came out of the
well he saw a dog who was also very thirsty and was licking the salty ground
with his tongue. Thinking that the animal was thirsty like him, he again
went down into the well, filled his leather socks with water and gave it to
the dog. Allah was so pleased with this action of the man that He granted
him Paradise.
There is another story about a woman going to Hell who starved
her cat to death.
Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) was so kind and gentle that he advised
his companions to be nice and considerate even while slaughtering animals
for food. He asked them to slaughter them with the sharpest weapon, thus
causing the minimum pain and suffering to the animal. He also forbade them
to sharpen the weapon in front of the animal or when the animal was ready
for slaughter, but told them to do these preliminaries before the animal was
brought for slaughter.
Prophet Muhammad taught people by word and deed to be kind and polite to
everyone. Abu Hurairah reported the Prophet as saying, "A believer is
friendly (and kind)." Ayeshah reported Allah's Messenger as saying, "Allah
is gentle and likes gentleness. He gives for gentleness what he does not
give for harshness and what He does not give for anything else."
Ayeshah also reported Allah's Messenger (peace be on him) as saying, "He who
is given his share of gentleness is given from his share of the good of this
world and the next, but he who is deprived of his share of gentleness is
deprived of his share of the good of this world and the next." Abdullah Ibn
Masud reported Allah's Messenger (peace be on him) as saying, "Shall I not
tell you about the man who is kept away, from Hell and from whom Hell is
kept away? From the person who is gentle and kind, accessible and of an easy
disposition."
Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him), by his own example, had instilled this
kind of behaviour in his companions, who, after him, set an example for
other people. This is shown by the following incident. It is reported by
Abdullah Ibn Jafar that he passed by a grazing field and saw an Abyssinian
slave guarding a herd of goats. A dog came and sat in front of him. He took
out a loaf of bread and gave it to the dog, who ate it. Then he gave the
second and third loaves of bread to the dog who ate them all. He enquired of
the slave how many loaves of bread he got daily from his master. He replied
that he got as many as he saw.
At this, he asked why he gave all his bread to the dog. The slave replied
that the dog did not belong to that place and must have come hoping for food
from a long distance, hence he did not like his effort to be wasted.
Abdullah said that he liked his action so much that he bought the slave
along with the goats and the grazing field from his master, set him free and
gave him all the goats and the grazing field. The slave thanked him and
prayed for him and gave all the goats and the grazing field in charity and