Sunnah towards Animals

Rasulullah (PBUH) was a very noble person. As many have known, he treated all equally. It does not matter if the people are kafir, munafiq or treated him badly; he still treated them with kindness. He was not like us, normal people. Normal people, if they are treated by someone badly, usually they will feel hatred towards that someone or want to do revenge towards him or her but rasulullah will never do so. Not only Rasulullah (PBUH) asked us to do good to human beings, he also encouraged us to do good to animals.

It is stated in one of the Prophet’s hadith that said: “Fear God in regards to these animals who cannot speak their will.  If you ride them, treat them accordingly (by making them strong and fit for that), and if you [plan to] eat them, treat them accordingly (by making them fat and healthy).” (Abu Dawud). According to the above hadith, kindness to animals can be divided into three forms:

1. Kindness towards animals in general

 Rasulullah (PBUH) is the perfect example of being kind towards animals. It is reported in sirah that he had a cat as pet named Mueeza. His akhlaq towards animals was so virtuous to the extent that when Mueeza was sleeping on a jubah that Rasulullah (PBUH) wanted to wear for prayer. He was willing to cut the sleeve part of the jubbah that Mueeza was sleeping on in order to not wake Mueeza from sleep (Azril Syazwan, 2012). This scenario is seen as incomparable because if we as normal people who are in that situation, people would rather wake the cat up than cutting their jubah. That is how beautiful the Prophet’s akhlaq was.

     It is sinful when people are cruel to animals. Not only it is wrong for people who harm animal physically, but also for those who hurt animals emotionally. This is because, animals too have feelings like human beings even though they are not given the faculty of thoughts like us. As narrated by Abdul Rahman bin Abdullah bin Mas'ud: We were on a journey with the Apostle of God, and he left us for a while. During his absence, we saw a bird called Hummara with its two young and took the young ones. The mother bird was circling above us in the air, beating its wings in grief, when the Prophet came back and said: "Who has hurt the FEELINGS of this bird by taking its young? Return them to her." Muslim. Also Awn [Ref. No. 32] Hadith No. 2658. Also "Guillaume" [Ref. No. 57]; p. 106). Based on the hadith above, birds are also mothers and people cannot simply take their chicks, just like people cannot simply take (kidnap) other people’s children.

     In terms of physical cruelty, it is forbidden for us to make animals fight, hurt each other or being hurt physically for the sake of humans’ entertainment. For example, in Malaysia, people using cockerels to make them fight each other and this are an act of cruelty to the cockerels because they are hurt physically. The same goes to those in Western culture who ride bulls in rodeo game, spanking the bull and shoving hot rods to the bulls’ buttocks to make them go wild.

2. Kindness towards cattle and pets

Muslims must always ensure that the cattle and pets’ needs are fulfilled. Enough food, proper shelter, freedom and love must be given to the animals. Pets must have freedom to go and play outside and must be locked in cages without letting them go out at all. There was a woman who locked her cat without feeding it or letting it free to find food until it dies in starvation. Prophet (PBUH) said that the woman would be sent to Hell for her cruelty. There was also an incident whereby a prostitute who helped a dog to drink from a well by using her shoe to get the water. Rasullullah (PBUH) said that Allah forgave her because of her kindness toward animals (Narrated by Abu Huraira).

3. Kindness in killing animals for food

Click play to watch the real way of Islamic slaughter. It is amazing that the goats just submit themselves to be slaughtered.

Islam also allows Muslims to eat cattle meat. However, cattle must be slaughtered according to Sharia. Islamic slaughtering is the best way of killing animals as it is very merciful. Knives used for the slaughtering must be really sharp so that the animal will not be tortured in slow death. Other than that, an animal will not be slaughtered in front of other animal as this will only scare other animals and doing so is considered as heartless. More importantly, animals are slaughtered in the name of Allah. When the slaughterer is being mercy and intends the slaughter only for Allah, the animal will submit itself and be calm. Hence, the process of slaughtering will run smoothly.