Kindness to Animals

Once upon a time, there was a woman, who had a cat. She was very cruel to that cat. She would keep it tied up at all times.

Whenever the cat was hungry, it would let out sad, pitiful meows, but the cruel woman would not give it any food. Since the cat remained hungry, it kept on meowing for a long time, but the woman did not feel any pity.

Even when the cat was thirsty, it would let out a series of meows, so that the woman would give it water. But again, she neither listened to the cat nor gave it any water.

Days went on. The cat remained tied up. It grew weaker and weaker. Then, one day, the cat died.

The Prophet (saw) told this story to his Sahabahs (Companions) and said about this woman: “A woman entered the (Hell) Fire because of a cat which she had tied, neither giving it food nor setting it free to eat from the vermin of the earth.” (Bukhari)

This tells us that Allah (swt) did not like the unkind treatment given to the cat by the woman and He (swt) punished her for it.

Moral of the story

1. Be kind to every animal.
2. If you cannot look after an animal properly, don’t keep it as a pet. Set it free.
3. Animals should not be starved or treated badly.