Allah’s Attributes of Mercy and Forgiveness are vast. If He wants He may forgive a person even for a very small amount of good action done by him. People who seem to be sinners to others are sometimes greatly blessed by the mercy of Allah. Some actions done with pure intentions are seen highly by Allah, and He rewards us more than what we could imagine. And what we might imagine to be a small sin may lose Allah’s blessings and take us to Hell, no matter how good we are at performing other acts of worship like prayers or fasting.
The following extracts emphasize the importance of kindness to every creature, even animals, because Allah is pleased with such kindness.
• Narrated Abu Huraira (may Allah be pleased with him): Allah’s Apostle (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, “A prostitute was forgiven by Allah, because, passing by a panting dog near a well and seeing that the dog was about to die of thirst, she took off her shoe, and tying it with her head-cover she drew out some water for it. So, Allah forgave her because of that.” (Sahih Bukhari: vol 4: Book 54: no 538)
• Narrated Abu Huraira (may Allah be pleased with him): Allah’s Apostle (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, “While a man was walking he felt thirsty and went down a well and drank water from it. On coming out of it, he saw a dog panting and eating mud because of excessive thirst. The man said, ‘This (dog) is suffering from the same problem as that of mine. So he (went down the well), filled his shoe with water, caught hold of it with his teeth and climbed up and watered the dog. Allah thanked him for his (good) deed and forgave him.” The people asked, “O Allah’s Apostle! Is there a reward for us in serving (the) animals?” He replied, “Yes, there is a reward for serving any animate.” (Sahih Bukhari: vol 3: Book: 40: no551)
In the above Hadiths a prostitute and a man are forgiven by Allah because of kindness they showed towards a living being.
On the other hand single acts done by us can end up in us being punished for it. The woman who was not a prostitute was put in Hell because of the cruelty she showed for an innocent cat.
• Narrated ‘Abdullah bin ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him): Allah’s Apostle (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, “A woman was tortured and was put in Hell because of a cat which she had kept locked till it died of hunger.” Allah’s Apostle further said, (Allah knows better) Allah said (to the woman), ‘You neither fed it nor watered when you locked it up, nor did you set it free to eat the insects of the earth.” ( Sahih Bukhari: vol 3: Book 40: no 553)
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