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Thecat is considered "the quintessential pet" by manyMuslims,[1] and is admired for its cleanliness.
Unlike many other animals, such as dogs,Islamic Law considers cats ritually pure and that cats possessbarakah (blessings),[2][3] and allows cats to freely enter homes and evenmosques. Cats are believed to be the most common pet inMuslim countries.[1]
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The American poet and travel authorBayard Taylor (1825–1878) was astonished when he discovered aSyrian hospital where cats roamed freely. The institution, in which domestic felines were sheltered and nourished, was funded by awaqf, along with caretakers' wages,veterinary care, andcat food.Edward William Lane (1801–1876), a British Orientalist who resided inCairo, described a cat garden originally endowed by the 13th-century Egyptian sultanBaibars.[1]
Wilfred Thesiger, in his bookThe Marsh Arabs, notes that cats were allowed free entry to community buildings in villages in theMesopotamian Marshes and were even fed.[4][page needed] Aside from protecting granaries and food stores from pests, cats were valued by the paper-based Arab-Islamic cultures for preying on mice that destroyed books. For that reason, cats are often depicted in paintings alongside Islamic scholars and bibliophiles.
In Islamic tradition, cats are admired for their cleanliness. They are considered to beritually clean, and are thus allowed to enter homes[1] and even mosques, includingMasjid al-Haram. Food sampled by cats is consideredhalal, in the sense that their consumption of the food does not make it impermissible for Muslims to eat, and water from which cats have drunk is permitted forwudu (the ablution that is done by Muslims).[1]
Muslim scholars are divided on the issue ofneutering animals. Most, however, maintain that neutering cats is allowed "if there is some benefit in neutering the cat and if that will not cause its death".[5]Muhammad ibn al Uthaymeen, a 20th-century Saudi ArabianWahhabiimam, preached:
If there are too many cats and they are a nuisance, and if the operation will not harm them, then there is nothing wrong with it, because this is better than killing them after they have been created. But if the cats are ordinary cats and are not causing a nuisance, perhaps it is better to leave them alone to reproduce.[5]
According to one story, Muhammad had a cat named Muezza (orMuʿizza;Arabic:معزة). While preparing for prayer, Muhammad discovered Muezza on his prayer robe, so he cut the sleeve off as to not disturb the cat.[6][7]
However, there is no mention of any such cat or story in anyhadith,[8] which has led many Muslims to consider this story untrue.[9]
Assim Al-Hakeem, a Sunni cleric, comments on a question made about Muezza:[10]
But to claim that the prophet had a cat and he named it "Mu'izza" and the prophet did this or that, all of this is nonsense and baseless.
Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi, a Shia cleric, also comments on a question about Muezza, in which he says:[11]
About the name of a cat in the house of the Prophet, the narration is found in Sunni books, but I could not find it till now in our Shia books. It make no difference as the Hadeeths which we have are authentic in allowing having a cat at home.
Whether the story of Muezza is true or fabricated, Muhammad is known to have criticized abusers of cats.[12]
In still another charming legend about the Prophet, one day his favorite cat Muezza bowed to thank him for some kind favor and, by this story, Muhammad then passed his hand down three times the length of the animal's back, giving to it—and to all cats evermore—the enviable capacity always to land squarely on their feet.
عُذِّبَتِ امْرَأَةٌ في هِرَّةٍ سَجَنَتْها حتَّى ماتَتْ، فَدَخَلَتْ فيها النَّارَ، لا هي أطْعَمَتْها ولا سَقَتْها، إذْ حَبَسَتْها، ولا هي تَرَكَتْها تَأْكُلُ مِن خَشاشِ الأرْضِ [A woman was tortured because of a cat that she had imprisoned until it died. She entered the Fire because of it. She neither fed it nor gave it water to drink, as she had imprisoned it, nor did she let it eat from the vermin of the earth.]
