Rasulullah SAW and his cat Mueeza

We have heard remarkeable stories about the beautiful akhlaq of Prophet Muhammad SAW. He was kind to everyone; his wives, his family, his companions, strangers and even the kafeer (unbelievers). But do you know that Rasulullah SAW was kind to animals too?

Rasulullah SAW had a cat named Mueeza which he was very fond of. Everytime Prophet Muhammad SAW entertained guests at his home, he would bring Mueeza along and put Mueeza at his lap. Rasulullah SAW liked to see Mueeza purr when it hears the adzan (call for prayers). Allah's Apostle reminded us to be kind to cats and treat them like how we would treat our family member.

Once, Rasulullah was about to take his jubah when he saw Mueeza sleeping on it. Rasulullah then cut the arm portion which Mueeza was sleeping on in order not to wake his favourite cat. Masha Allah! Such a charming akhlaq. Whenever Prophet Muhammad SAW returns home, Mueeza would run to him as a gesture of being playful. In turn, the prophet would cuddle Mueeza. Rasulullah stressed that cats are not filthy. Plus, he even allowed taking the ablution from water of which a cat has drank from it.

Abu Qatadah mentioned that Prophet Muhammad SAW said "Cats are not profane. They love to play in houses (tame animal)" [HR At-Tirmidzi, An-Nasa’i, Abu Dawud, and Ibnu Majah].

In another narration by Ali bin Al-Hassan, one day Anas and Rasulullah went to Baththan, a district in Medina for a trip. Rasulullah said to Anas "O Anas, pour me some water into the bowl for me to take my ablutions". Anas poured the water and when Rasulullah was just about to take his ablutions, a cat came and drank from the bowl. Rasulullah saw the cat and stopped taking his ablutions. When the cat left, Rasulullah continued his ablutions. Anas asked him about the incident and he said "Cats are among the ornaments of a house. It is not filthy nor profane"

The punishment for torturing a cat is very serious. In a hadith by Bukhari, it was told that a lady who never fed her cats, or even lets them to find food on their own will be punished severely and the punishment to her as said by Rasulullah SAW was the Hell fire.

A few researches were conducted on cats of various ages, skin position and body parts such as tails and paws. Bacteria were placed on the said parts of the cats. A few samples of the cats' saliva were aso taken from their mouth and tongue. After the researches, it was concluded that:

1) The samples taken from the skins contained no bacteria

2) The samples taken from the mouth and tongue contained only 20% of bacterias (which showed that cats can fight the viruses spread on them)

3) The bacteria found in the sample are common bacteria such as enterobacter, streptococcus and thapylococcus. The quantity is small and these are common bacteria found in human. No harmful bacteria were found.

Reviews from doctors specialising in microorganisms such as Dr George Maqshud, head of laboratorium in Baitharah Veterinary mentioned that a cat's salive seldom contains germs. If the saliva contains germs, it just shows that the cat is sick or will fall sick.

So there you go. Keeping a cat is not harmful to you and praised by syarak. Plus, it is a sunnah which we seldom heard of, getting rewarded for keeping cats. Another good news for cat lovers out there! Alhamdulillah.

Source : http://islamicwellness.com/rasulullah-saw-and-his-cat-mueeza/