Sadullah Khan – Care for creation earns forgiveness of Creator
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The speaker discusses two instances where the prophet's actions are described in the Sahih ofitant scripture as a reflection of his mercy. In the first instance, a woman of ill repute takes water from a well and then gives it to her dog while the second instance involves an animal who is thirsty and gives water to her. The speaker also mentions a woman who is experiencing a culture of malalethic behavior towards animals and is given a reward for her actions.
AI: Summary ©
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says in the Quran,
Specifically in reference to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wa Sallam,
we have not sent you, oh Muhammad, except
as a mercy unto all levels
of existence.
Allah didn't say Rahmatullil Mutakeen,
as a mercy to those who are pious.
Rahmatullil mumineen,
a mercy to those who are believers. Rahmatullil
muslimeen,
those who submit
to Allah just as proclamation of faith.
Nor did he say rahmatullinas.
But rahmatullilalameen.
In other words, to whatever is Allah, Allah
is a Rab, Rasulullah send us a mercy.
And therefore we find this is reflected in
so much of the narrations we receive about
what the prophet said. And description about him,
about what he did, and how he
interacted, not only with people, but also
with creation as a whole.
And this is reflected specifically in the incident
I want to narrate and relate here this
evening, documented in the Sahih of Imam Muslim.
A a group of companions of the Rasulullah
were once on a journey with the prophet.
And he left them for a while.
And during his absence,
the the companions, some of them saw a
bird with, 2 little ones. It's the babies
or the birdlings as you can say.
And they they were they took the young
ones away in the path of playing with
them or something.
And when the Rasulullahahu
alaihi wasallam came back,
then he saw that the mother bird
was
frantic,
beating its wings, circling above the air.
And the prophet shalallahu alaihi wa sallam said,
Who has taken
who has hurt the feelings of this bird
by taking away its little ones? Who has
hurt the feeling of this bird by taking
away its little ones?
Re return
their little ones
to the mother. In other words, he displayed
a compassion
feeling the uneasiness of the mother
when perhaps they were just playing with the
birds but separating it from his mother.
Now this care and compassion for animals
is an extension
of humane characteristics.
This
empathic
reflection of a person is a reflection of
the mercy of the Rasulullah wa sallam.
Human beings like these
and those who emulate the prophet salallahu alaihi
wa sallam in this, they incur Allah's pleasure
but also gain Allah's forgiveness.
And I want to narrate 2 incidences. Both
documented in Sahih Bukhari and in Sahih Muslim.
In other words, the highest degree of authenticity.
One of them is a man experienced tremendous
thirst while walking on a journey.
And he found it well. Now sometimes used
to have for those who have been to
India or parts of Egypt and some of
the areas
which have rural,
areas, you'll find there are wells where you
can just,
you know, you drop a, a bucket and
pull the water. And some of them are
big enough where you have stairways, you can
go down and perhaps go fit some water
because it's quite deep.
So this person
went down some of the stairs and got
some water and drank from there. And when
he came up, it says,
he found that there was a dog panting
with thirst.
And then
he thought to
himself,
This dog is as thirsty as I was,
but has no access to the water.
So he had no container with which to
give the dog the water, so he took
off his shoe, and he scooped water from
the well, and came up and gave water
to the dog.
And the hadith narrates,
fashakr Allah lahu fakafaralla.
Allah so much appreciated his deed
of helping this dog
out of his thirst. And Allah forgave him
all his sins.
Another incident where Rasulullah
also mentions, was a woman of ill repute.
A woman of ill repute.
And
she was passing by and took some water
from the well. Not the one that you
climbed down now, but in this case, some
water from the well.
And then she saw also an animal
thirsty,
very thirsty. And she thought the animal could
die out of thirst.
So she also took, some say her her
purse, some say her shoe, and
scoop the water with that and gave it
to the animal.
And the hadith says,
Allah forgave her whatever she was.
Allah forgave her because of that act.
The companions of the prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam,
when they heard the prophet narrate this to
them, they asked, you Rasulullah,
is there a reward for charity even for
animals? If you are charitable and generous towards
animals, is there even a reward for that?
And their Rasool said,
For every being with a moist living. In
other words, for every living thing there is
reward for the charity that you bestow.
One of these scholars of Islam said,
He said, how
if Allah can forgive a person
who gave
water to quench the thirst of a dog.
He says,
what do you think then is Allah's reflection,
Allah's attitude, Allah's compassion, Allah's reward
for the one the one who gives water
to the thirsty or feeds the one who's
hungry or covers the one who has no
clothes
from among human beings and from those amongst
your faith. If Allah can show this kind
of mercy and if He forgives a person,
whatever
their their sins may have been, Allah forgave
them for this act. How much more do
you think Allah will reward
a Muslim when He does this for fellow
human beings and for fellow Muslims? So may
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant that very often
we think of asking forgiveness,
but we make istighfar in the masjid, which
we ought to do, or at home, or
in our salah, or in our wathkar. But
also as you can see from this, from
this authentic Hadith,
even showing kindness to animals, and more particularly,
those animals who may not have access to
food or to water. And you are perchance,
their angel whom Allah sends is a test.
And do we pass the test? May Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala grant and be compassionate to
each other, even to the rest of his
creation.