Story Farmland & grasslands Urban environment Mercy towards animals

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The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ once told his companions the story of a woman who was punished because of a cat. She had confined it until it died of hunger, without giving it food or allowing it to find nourishment freely among the creatures of the earth. This account, reported in both Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, is one of the most well-known teachings in Islamic tradition concerning the treatment of animals.

The hadith of the woman and the cat

According to the version transmitted in both collections, the Prophet ﷺ said: "A woman was punished because of a cat which she had confined until it died; she entered the Fire for that. She had neither given it food nor drink when she confined it, nor had she freed it to eat the insects of the earth." This text, with striking clarity, leaves no room for ambiguity: depriving an animal of food and freedom, whether through neglect or cruelty, is presented as a grave fault.

This hadith is often cited alongside another account—that of a man forgiven for giving water to a thirsty dog in a well, also reported in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim. The two stories mirror each other: one shows that an act of kindness toward an animal can bring divine mercy, the other that an act of cruelty can bring punishment. Together, they convey the same lesson—that of a moral responsibility which does not stop at human beings alone.

A responsibility beyond utility

It is reported that the Companions, upon hearing this account, asked the Prophet ﷺ whether one would be rewarded for kindness toward animals, since this matter seemed to them novel to place on the same level as kindness toward humans. The Prophet's ﷺ answer, as transmitted in these same collections, was affirmative: there is reward for every living being possessed of a heart that suffers or rejoices. This statement greatly broadens the scope of the hadith of the cat: it is not merely a specific prohibition, but a general principle by which suffering inflicted on an animal, without necessity or legitimate reason, creates responsibility before God.

According to some scholars, this hadith also teaches that the fault of this woman lay not in the fact of capturing or keeping an animal in her home, but in depriving it of the basic means of survival while preventing it from feeding itself. Cruelty is therefore not limited to blows or visible injuries: abandonment, neglect, and indifference to the suffering of a living being can themselves be considered forms of abuse.

A guiding thread for our relationship with animals

This hadith continues to be reflected upon today, particularly by those who ask themselves how to treat animals rightly, whether cats, dogs, or any other animal placed in human care. It reminds us that an animal entrusted to our care is not an object we own freely, but a living being whose welfare engages our conscience.

Thus, this account invites each person, today as in the past, to care seriously for the well-being of the animals that cross their path: providing them with food, water, and freedom of movement is not an incidental act, but an deed of mercy that resonates deeply with prophetic teaching. To care for an animal, however humble, is to answer a call to kindness that knows no boundary between species.