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 Allah’s
Messenger was the kindest of men just as he excelled all others in
courage and valor. He was so kindhearted that his eyes brimmed with
tears at the slightest sign of inhumanity. Ibn `Abbas related that a
man once threw a goat on its side and then started sharpening his
knife. When the Prophet saw him he said, “Do you want to kill it
twice? Why didn’t you sharpen the knife before throwing it on the
ground?”
The
Prophet forbade his Companions to keep the dumb creatures hungry or
thirsty, or to disturb or overburden them. He commended kindness to
animals and putting them at ease as meritorious acts tending to
bring man nearer to Allah. Abu Hurayrah reported the Prophet as
saying, “A traveler who was thirsty saw a well on the way. He got
inside the well and when he came out he saw a dog licking mud
because of thirst. The man thought to himself that the dog should be
as thirsty as he was and so he got into the well again, filled his
leather sock with water and carried it out holding it with his
teeth. And thus he quenched the dog’s thirst. Allah was pleased
with this act of kindness and pardoned his sins.” The Companions
asked, “O Messenger of Allah, is there recompense in the matter of
beasts and wild animals also?” The Prophet replied “There is
recompense in regard to every creature that has a living heart.”
`Abdullah
ibn `Umar reported that the Prophet said, “A woman was doomed to
enter the Fire because of a cat. She imprisoned it and neither fed
it nor set it free to eat the rodents of the earth.” `Abdullah ibn
Ja`far narrated that once the Prophet entered the enclosure of a
young man from the Ansar (the people of Madinah) where there was a
camel that started groaning on catching sight of the Prophet, tears
running down its eyes. The Prophet approached it and patted its hump
and face, which set it at ease. Then the Prophet asked who its owner
was. The Ansari young man came and said: “O Messenger of Allah, it
belongs to me.” The Prophet said to him, “Do you not fear Allah
in the matter of this beast although He has made you its owner? It
complained to me that you bore hard upon it and always kept it at
work.”
Abu
Hurayrah quoted the Prophet as saying, “When you travel in a
fertile country do not deny the camels their due from the ground,
and when you travel in a land barren and dry, cover it with speed.
When you encamp at night keep away from the roads, for they are
where the beasts pass and are the resorts of the insects at
night.” Ibn Mas`ud reported, “While we were on a journey with
Allah’s Messenger, he went a short distance from where we had
encamped. There we saw a small bird with two of its chicks and
caught them. The bird was fluttering when the Prophet came back and
so he asked, ‘Who has distressed it by taking its chicks?’ Then
he asked us to return the chicks. There we also saw an anthill and
burned it out. When the Prophet saw he asked, ‘Who has burned
it?’ When we informed him that we had done it, he said, ‘Only
the Lord of fire has the right to punish with fire.’”
The
Prophet strongly enjoined kindness towards and generous treatment of
the slaves, servants and labor engaged for manual work. Jabir
related the Prophet of Allah as saying, “Feed them with the food
that you eat, clothe them with such clothing as you wear and do not
cause trouble to Allah’s creatures.” The Prophet is further
stated to have said, “Those whom Allah has made your dependents
are your brothers, servants and helpmates. Anybody whose brother has
been made subservient to him ought to feed him with the food he eats
and clothe him with the clothes he wears. Command him not to do that
which he is unable to do and if it becomes necessary to do so, then
he should help him in doing the job.”
`Abdullah
ibn `Umar said that once a nomadic Arab came and asked the Prophet,
“How many times should I pardon my servant in a day?” The
Prophet replied, “Seventy times.” He also quoted the Prophet as
saying, “Pay the wages of a laborer before his sweat dries up.” |
