Sadullah Khan – Care for creation earns forgiveness of Creator

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.