HEREINAFTER,HOW TO GET A MERCIFUL SOUL.
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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."