Maneka Gandhi in SouthAsia Magazine:
Cruelty to animals is strongly condemned in the Qur’an and the Hadith of the Prophet and punishments are provided for it. Most of the Sahih Hadith collections have Abdullah Ibn Umar’s report, no rx “The Prophet cursed the one who treated animals harshly.” Al-‘Asqalani specified that “The cursing indicates that the action is prohibited. Whoever treats harshly a living being and then does not repent, doctor God will treat him just as harshly on judgment day.” Abdullah Ibn Umar reported that the Prophet said: “A woman went to hell because of a cat that she confined and did not feed or allow to feed.”
More here.
Be kind because it’s good to be kind, not because Islam or any other scripture tells you to do so. Justifying compassion and goodness through religion is tricky business. Just a random thought.
Aslkm Furqan. Nice reply but i do not agree to that. Islam is not only a religion it is the religion sent by Almighty Allah Himself for the benefit of mankind. If Islam had not been there, we would have living like those who used to roam around Arabia before the advent of The Holy Prophet Muhammad(saw). The charter of human rights in UN declaration of human rights & the rights given to everyone have been mentioned in the Holy Quran. I believe u recite the Holy Quran daily but do not ponder over its meaning. Kindly do that & u will see Islam in everything u do.
That’s nice of you to say Tahir, but what if I don’t believe in Allah? Does that mean I should go be cruel to all animals? And to human beings?, No, wait, that means perhaps that I can be treated cruelly too? What if I am Parsi, does that mean I am now someone out of god’s graces? Because according to you I am definitely like a pre-Islamic heathen and a danger to society, you should definitely get rid of me before I harm your perfect little Islamic society, shouldn’t you?
Its very good of you to suggest to read the Quran clearly, its a very nice book on ethics, one that forbids all kinds of prejudice, even against non-believers. You don’t HAVE to be a Allah-certified-Muslim to be a good human being is what I believe Furhan was trying to say. Please educate yourself about the non-prejudicial nature of your faith, just being a “muslim”, or the follower of any other religion, does not make you better than anyone else. That one is from the Quran too, in case you read it.
a mirza, you are im sorry extremely, annoyingly sarcastic hence i think
you shud be prejudiced, not because you are a non believer