CAT AND RELIGIOUS SANCTITY

CAT AND RELIGIOUS SANCTITY

PROF WAQAR HUSSAIN

           

          Cat is a common animal in our society; it usually roams about during the night in search of prey. Many people keep them in homes. There are many proverbs, sayings, superstitions, tales and fears associated with this animal.

            For an instance “A cat has nine lives” expresses the prevailing belief that it is very difficult to kill a cat. Another maxim “Care killed a cat” refers to depressing effect of care “worry” upon body health; it even killed a cat which has nine lives. The myth of kilkenny cats, who said to have fought until only their tails remained, entered in our daily life slang as “killkill” (long persistent fighting).

            

There are many tales connected with this animal, sometimes it is regarded as ‘Sher ki Khala’ auntie of lion. It is believed that the cats love places and the dogs love persons. It is also said that cats patrol their kittens through seven houses one after another etc. In Urdu language we find number of phrases like billi ko chicharoon ki khwabain(dream of one’s own longings); billi na sher parahia, billi ko khanay aya(Frankenstein’s monster);billi Khuda wastay choha nahi khatti (every one struggles for one’s own interests);billi ka rasta katna ( a nuisance sign); billi ka ghoo na lapnay ka na potnay ka (there is no utilization of a useless person); billi ke Meow sa dar lagta ha (terror of a terrible person),etc.

            My younger brother is very fond of rearing rabbits. A cat is consistently preying upon his rabbits one by one. On seeing her routine, I decided to kill her. But my mother did not allow me to do so. She argued that the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) once took his meal with one. It shows that the Holy Prophet (PBUH) had great affection for cats, so it is a sin to kill it.

               She further added if you are enraged over a cat’s outrageous acts, you can throw a swab at her, the only permitted penalty for cat. So I adjourned my intention of killing the cat. 

                           But still I am not convinced with this sanctification of cat. Cats kill many innocent domestic animals like chicken, duck, parrot, partridge, pigeon, rabbit, etc. They steal milk and meat from houses and sometime even endeavors to tear away a piece of flesh from the bodies of infants. An animal of such habits cannot be sacred!

                This article was published in the Frontier Post in which I requested to Professor Rafi Ullah Shahab or any other religious scholar to elaborate this issue under the light of Quran and Sunnah and to cut this Gordian knot?

                  Recently, Prof Dr Mahfooz Ahmad (Islamic Education). Sangla Hill accepted the challenge to solve the Sphinx riddle like Oedipus and came up with many convincing references. He said, there are two types of animals, noxious (harmful) and innoxious (harmless). Innoxious are those which are harmless for man whether domesticated or not e.g. cat. Noxious are those animals which are harmful e.g. snake, scorpion, lizard, etc. Islam allows only killing of those animals which are pernicious. The term pernicious apply only to physical harm and not the financial one.

                 As far as, the matter of cat is concerned. Cat is one of those animals whose left- over food is permissible for eating as Istahsan (general welfare of public). Hazarat Abdul Rehman bin Sakhar reported: “I used to graze other’s goats and had a cat. During night, I used to lay her on the tree and on the morning, I used to play with her. People, on noticing this activity, gave me the surname of Abu Haraira. The Holy Prophet (PBUH) used to call me with this surname.” It shows the silent endorsement (Taqreri Hadith) of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) in rearing a cat.

                 It is recorded in Saheh Muslim: “One woman was tormented for this very sin that she kept a cat in bonds and during this hostage, she neither gave her food and drink nor freed her”. So killing of cat is not allowed in Islam.

            If one looks around, one will find the respect of cat in many nations: Irish says-Beware of people who dislikes cats; French says-The cat is nature’s beauty and in another saying, they say-The dog may be wonderful prose but only the cat is poetry ; Chinese says-When rats infest the palace, a lame cat is better than the swiftest horse; German says-The cat who frightens the mice away is as good as the cat who eats them; Italian says-Happy is the home with 

at least one cat; British says-The dog for the man, the cat for the woman; Indian says-A cat is a lion in the jungle of small bushes; Pakistani says-Billi sher ki khala ha ,thus lifted cat to a status of Queen of the Jungle, etc. In sum, the cats have won winsome wonderful worldwide worth.

             So my mother was right in her judgment and cat is sacred commodity as they have got the legitimacy from the Hadith. But once, I was living in Sheikhupura with my elder brother and one of furious cat attacked my newly born niece and tried to tear apart flesh of her naked hand as my sister-in-law had enveloped her completely, leaving behind one hand exposed that allured the cat to hunt for fresh human meat. It was a matter of chance that my sister-in-law entered the room and cat ran away in a jiffy. Thus small baby remained safe except for few rashes on hand. This cat had become deleterious and general principle of killing of living creatures is:  Islam allows only killing of those animals which are pernicious (physically). Was this cat not pernicious(physically)?