The cat is considered "the quintessential pet" by many Muslims, [1] and is admired for its cleanliness.
Unlike many other animals, such as dogs, Islamic Law considers cats ritually pure and that cats possess barakah (blessings), [2] [3] and allows cats to freely enter homes and even mosques. Cats are believed to be the most common pet in Muslim countries. [1]
The American poet and travel author Bayard Taylor (1825–1878) was astonished when he discovered a Syrian hospital where cats roamed freely. The institution, in which domestic felines were sheltered and nourished, was funded by a waqf, along with caretakers' wages, veterinary care, and cat food. Edward William Lane (1801–1876), a British Orientalist who resided in Cairo, described a cat garden originally endowed by the 13th-century Egyptian sultan Baibars. [1]
Wilfred Thesiger, in his book The Marsh Arabs, notes that cats were allowed free entry to community buildings in villages in the Mesopotamian Marshes and were even fed. [4] [ page needed ] Aside from protecting granaries and food stores from pests, cats were valued by the paper-based Arab-Islamic cultures for preying on mice that destroyed books. For that reason, cats are often depicted in paintings alongside Islamic scholars and bibliophiles.
In Islamic tradition, cats are admired for their cleanliness. They are considered to be ritually clean, and are thus allowed to enter homes [1] and even mosques, including Masjid al-Haram. Food sampled by cats is considered halal, in the sense that their consumption of the food does not make it impermissible for Muslims to eat, and water from which cats have drunk is permitted for wudu (the ablution that is done by Muslims). [1]
Muslim scholars are divided on the issue of neutering animals. Most, however, maintain that neutering cats is allowed "if there is some benefit in neutering the cat and if that will not cause its death". [5] Muhammad ibn al Uthaymeen, a 20th-century Saudi Arabian Wahhabi imam, preached:
If there are too many cats and they are a nuisance, and if the operation will not harm them, then there is nothing wrong with it, because this is better than killing them after they have been created. But if the cats are ordinary cats and are not causing a nuisance, perhaps it is better to leave them alone to reproduce. [5]
According to one story, Muhammad had a cat named Muezza (or Muʿizza; Arabic : معزة). While preparing for prayer, Muhammad discovered Muezza on his prayer robe, so he cut the sleeve off as to not disturb the cat. [6] [7]
However, there is no mention of any such cat or story in any hadith, [8] which has led many Muslims to consider this story untrue. [9]
Assim Al-Hakeem, a Sunni cleric, comments on a question made about Muezza: [10]
But to claim that the prophet had a cat and he named it "Mu'izza" and the prophet did this or that, all of this is nonsense and baseless.
Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi, a Shia cleric, also comments on a question about Muezza, in which he says: [11]
About the name of a cat in the house of the Prophet, the narration is found in Sunni books, but I could not find it till now in our Shia books. It make no difference as the Hadeeths which we have are authentic in allowing having a cat at home.
Whether the story of Muezza is true or fabricated, Muhammad is known to have criticized abusers of cats. [12]
Hadith is a form of Islamic oral tradition containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the prophet Muhammad. Each hadith is associated with a chain of narrators. Compilations of hadith were aggregated into distinct collections by Islamic scholars in the centuries after Muhammad's death. Hadith are widely respected in mainstream Muslim thought and are central to Islamic law. They are at the center of a major scholarly discipline in Islam known as the hadith sciences, in addition to a contemporary field of historiography known as hadith studies.
Islamic dietary laws are laws that Muslims follow in their diet. Islamic jurisprudence specifies which foods are halal and which are haram. The dietary laws are found in the Quran, the holy book of Islam, as well as in collections of traditions attributed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
ʻAṣmāʼ bint Marwān a female Arab poet said to have lived in Medina in 7th-century Arabia. There is debate that Muhammad ordered her assassinated for her agitating against Muhammad.
In Islam and sharia, bidʿah refers to innovation in religious matters. Linguistically, the term means "innovation, novelty, heretical doctrine, heresy". Despite being the subject of many hadith and commonly used in Muslim texts, the term is not found in the Qur'an.
The hadith of the thaqalayn refers to a statement, attributed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad, that introduces the Quran, the principal religious text in Islam, and his progeny as the only two sources of divine guidance after his death. Widely reported by both Shia and Sunni authorities, the hadith of the thaqalayn is of particular significance in Twelver Shia, where their Twelve Imams are viewed as the spiritual and political successors of Muhammad.
Purity is an essential aspect of Islam. It is the opposite of najāsa, the state of being ritually impure. It is achieved by first removing physical impurities from the body, and then removing ritual impurity through wudu (usually) or ghusl.
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, and the month in which the Quran is believed to be revealed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
The hadith of pen and paper is an incident in which the Islamic prophet Muhammad expressed a wish to issue a written statement shortly before his death, possibly on a Thursday, but was prevented from doing so. Muhammad's intentions are debated though it is commonly believed that the statement would have formally designated his successor. Possibly because of its ramifications throughout the history of Islam, some have referred to this incident as the Calamity of Thursday.
Adi ibn Hatim al-Tai was a leader of the Arab tribe of Tayy, and one of the companions of Muhammad. He was the son of the poet Hatim al-Tai. Adi remained antagonistic to Islam for about twenty years until he converted to Islam in 630.
In some forms of Islamic art, aniconism stems in part from the prohibition of idolatry and in part from the belief that the creation of living forms is God's prerogative.
In Islam, Muḥammad is venerated as the Seal of the Prophets and earthly manifestation of primordial divine light (Nūr), who transmitted the eternal word of God (Qur'ān) from the angel Gabriel (Jabrāʾīl) to humans and jinn. Muslims believe that the Quran, the central religious text of Islam, was revealed to Muhammad by God, and that Muhammad was sent to guide people to Islam, which is believed not to be a separate religion, but the unaltered original faith of mankind (fiṭrah), and believed to have been shared by previous prophets including Adam, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. The religious, social, and political tenets that Muhammad established with the Quran became the foundation of Islam and the Muslim world.
According to Islam, animals are conscious of God. According to the Quran, they praise Him, even if this praise is not expressed in human language. Baiting animals for entertainment or gambling is prohibited. It is forbidden to kill any animal except for food or to prevent it from harming people.
Breastfeeding is highly regarded in Islam. The Qur'an regards it as a sign of love between the mother and child. In Islamic law, breastfeeding creates ties of milk kinship that has implications in family law. Muslims throughout the world have varied breastfeeding traditions.
Hadith of Jesus Praying Behind Mahdi refers to a collection of hadith related to the prophecy that after Jesus (Isa) descends and joins the Mahdi and his followers in the final days before the destruction of Earth, Jesus will decline the offer of the Mahdi to lead the Mahdi and company in salat telling the Mahdi to lead. The Mahdi is an Islamic figure in Islamic eschatology, and salat is the Islamic practice of worship of God. The prophecy is narrated in numerous hadith collections. A total of 29 hadiths relate the return of Jesus, and his prayer with Mahdi's lead.
Islam uses a number of conventionally complimentary phrases wishing-well or praising religiously-esteemed figures including God (Allah), Muhammad, Muhammad's companions (sahaba), family, other Islamic prophets and messengers, angels, and revered persons. In Twelver Shi'ism, honorifics are used with the Twelve Imams.
Ismail ibn Musa Menk, commonly known as Mufti Menk, is a Zimbabwean Islamic speaker. He is the Grand Mufti of Zimbabwe, and head of the fatwa department for the Council of Islamic Scholars of Zimbabwe.
In Islam, morality in the sense of "non practical guidelines" or "specific norms or codes of behavior" for good doing are primarily based on the Quran and the Hadith – the central religious texts of Islam – and also mostly "commonly known moral virtues" whose major points "most religions largely agree on". They include kindness, charity, forgiveness, honesty, patience, justice, respecting parents and elders, keeping promises, and controlling one's anger, love of God and those God loves, love of his messenger (Muhammad) and of believers.
Zayd ibn Amr ibn Nufayl was a monotheist and poet who lived in Mecca shortly before Islam.
In Islam, raising hands in Dua is the action of using hands to invoke Allah in dua.
Assim bin Luqman al-Hakeem is a Saudi cleric of Indonesian descent. He is based primarily in the city of Jeddah, where he hosts programs dealing with Islam. Al-Hakeem mostly talks in English, and he is also known for his witty sarcasm and humorous approach to questions.
In still another charming legend about the Prophet, one day his favorite cat Muezza bowed to thank him for some kind favor and, by this story, Muhammad then passed his hand down three times the length of the animal's back, giving to it—and to all cats evermore—the enviable capacity always to land squarely on their feet.
عُذِّبَتِ امْرَأَةٌ في هِرَّةٍ سَجَنَتْها حتَّى ماتَتْ، فَدَخَلَتْ فيها النَّارَ، لا هي أطْعَمَتْها ولا سَقَتْها، إذْ حَبَسَتْها، ولا هي تَرَكَتْها تَأْكُلُ مِن خَشاشِ الأرْضِ [A woman was tortured because of a cat that she had imprisoned until it died. She entered the Fire because of it. She neither fed it nor gave it water to drink, as she had imprisoned it, nor did she let it eat from the vermin of the earth.]
