Mufti Menk – Children’s Series – When your pet dies

			Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah. But I care to my beloved children, I was asked about pets. Now, if you
have a pet, what is a pet, some animal or some creature that you keep with you, around you maybe in
the house, maybe in your yard, depending on what exactly it is, if you have a pet, you know, you
become close to it. Sometimes what do people have as pets, some people have fish more as pets here,
it's a little bit difficult, because to keep that fish tank clean, and to feed the fish and to be
cleaning it all the time, you need a lot of time, and effort. And if you're living in a country
where the electricity goes, sometimes the oxygen pipes that are within the water that you have to
		

			install inside there. If they turn off for longer than a certain time, your fish might die. So
that's also something to consider. Some people have birds, birds are not so easy to keep there,
okay, you have you have a cage, you can put a bird in a cage on condition that you are going to look
after it, you're not allowed to cage a bird if you're not going to feed it and you're going to
torture it. So if you want birds, it's okay. You can have birds, maybe a bird is a little bit easier
sometimes than fish, according to some people, but you need to give grains, you need to give some
water every day Subhanallah to these birds. And sometimes if you're going on holiday, you need to be
		

			very careful because who is going to look after your birds. So to have pets is not easy. Because
sometimes you might not be able to go on a holiday. And if you do, you might have to spend money for
someone to look after your pets either at home or wherever they are. Some people have cats, and some
panela we have some cats and cats are not so easy to look after, especially when you have a small
home. If you have a big home of nice huge house, then you you can keep those cats and those cats,
you need to have a little tree, you need to feed them every so often you need to know how to feed
them. Sometimes you need to give them some medicine, some injections etc. And you need to know how
		

			to look after the cat. Some of the cats mess the house sometimes, but not so much. You need to train
them, you need to know how to train them and speak to people who are or check online. from people
who know how to do the you know how to look after these cats. So some people have cats, some people
have chickens, ducks, some people have so many other things. Some people have chickens, they eat
them, they end up eating them after that, because they want chicken burgers, they want everything
else. So panda. But anyway, so when we have these pets, we get attached to these pets, we actually
get attached to these pets, which means we start feeling you know, you stroke the pet, and you feel
		

			the pet and you actually get close to the pet and you become
		

			connected to that pet, it becomes your friend right knows you. Some people have rabbits Wow.
Recently I know of some of my friends who got some rabbits. And we have some rabbits as well.
		

			Now, rabbits are difficult because oh, they're smelly sometimes. Yeah. And sometimes they multiply
so much, it's not so easy. So when that happens, do you know you need to have a place for them
outside, you need to have
		

			a warm space depending on the country you come from. And you also need to be prepared to look after
all the little rabbits that are going to come about because they multiply very, very quickly. Now,
you might want to ask about dogs. In Islam, we can only have dogs, if the dog is a security dog.
Meaning it's look after it looks after the property. If it's a farming dog, if it's a hunting dog,
or if it's a dog that's going to help a blind person. But we're told, those are the reasons that you
could have a dog and then to you need to know where to keep it you have to have a kennel for it not
inside your house, but in the yard somewhere. So you need to learn a little bit more about dogs I we
		

			would prefer to have the other animals, especially if we're just having pets. Now if you do have a
security dog or a guide dog or something, it's okay. But you must be kind to these dogs. You must
look after them. They are trained dogs, the hunting dogs are trained and so on. So you we need to
learn about it now. If any one of these pets die. Oh, we'll be very sad. Very sad. Especially if
you're connected to it a lot. We become sad and when we become sad what happens? Well,
		

			some people say well, I see my cat in Jannah. You know, will I be united with my dog in paradise in
the hereafter? Can I ask for forgiveness for the dog or the cat my child. You don't need to ask for
forgiveness for the dog or the cat.
		

			Because the dog or the cat didn't, wasn't responsible, anyway, to fulfill the duties, and to Allah
have a bad day and worship, like real. Animals don't have the level of intellect and the brain of a
human being. So they're not responsible as human beings to fulfill these things. So we don't ask for
forgiveness for animals. And when we say will the dog be in general, Islam teaches you something.
Islam says, Don't worry about the others. Don't worry about your dogs and pets where they're going
to be you need to worry about yourself. So if I am going to be in Paradise, once I get there, when I
make it there, I will definitely get what ever I want in Paradise, but I can't think about it from
		

			now. I've got to think about it. Then for now, Islam says only focus on you getting that paradise
Subhana Allah. So in that way, it will really be amazing. We shouldn't be worried about will I get
my cat or not. Because sometimes what shaytan makes us do is we're worried about our cats and that,
but we don't even pray as a result, and we become bad people. And we, we cheat and steal and
deceive, and we disrespect our parents, and we don't do the right thing. We spend our time doing the
wrong things. And then we expect the cat to be in Paradise, but we're not going to be there. May
Allah not do that to us. So don't worry about the cat. Not at all, we we shouldn't even worry about
		

			those. Because when you are worried about yourself and you make it to genma to paradise, you
definitely will not go wrong, you will have so much so much everything you want you get it in
paradise. You know, the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him says and even the Quran says that in
general, you get what you want. Now whom Maya una via? Well, a day in Amazeen. Allah says, To those
who are in Jannah in Paradise, they will get what ever they wish in paradise. So I can't say from
now that I want this. And I want that some people say I want the latest phone in Jenna, but it's not
going to be the latest anymore.
		

			The latest one now is maybe an S 21. Maybe.
		

			or an iPhone 13. Perhaps. And you know what, next year or later this year, it's not going to be the
latest anymore. So you can't ask for these things. You have to worry about you getting to a
paradise. So be a good person and insha Allah, don't worry about these cats. If your pet has passed
away, you bury the pet you know there is no solid janaza on a pet. Remember that? I've been asked
this question a few times by people that do. How do we do janaza for my pet? It may sound funny, but
the question, the question is, you know, innocent children ask these questions. Meaning the issue is
we've heard this and people ask question, there's no janazah you know, janazah is a prayer to seek
		

			forgiveness for the dead human being. That's what it is. So you don't do that. But you do bury it,
you can bury the animal SubhanAllah. So what you do is you can dig a little hole,
		

			you know, going deep enough that that particular animal will not come out if the rain comes, or
maybe the floods come or something happens, then the body won't come meaning the caucus, the caucus
meaning the dead body, the dead animal will not actually come out. But it will be underneath and
then you can leave a little gap and bury it so that it it decomposes back into the soil. So these
are a few small rules that I thought I'd ask you, meaning I'd let you guys know because some of you
have been asking. So I hope you enjoyed the session and I hope it enlightened you jezza comala salam
aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.