Feels Sorrow for Death of a Cat which She Took Care Of

22-11-2021 | IslamWeb

Question:

Assalaam alaikum, we had recently found a stray kitten. We had thought something might be wrong with it and took it to the vet. The vet said the kitten was about 45 days old it has been starved and needs care. We bought prescribed medicines and all the necessary items the kitten would need. At this age it needs warmth. It was placed in a cozy box(as cozy as we could think of) to sleep in. And placed in my room for sleep. We didn't have the heart to force feed (the last time it had milk was in the evening) it while it slept from evening to midnight when it had died(assuming that's when it died). I do blame myself as the air conditioner had been left on for half the night(due to my own forgetfullness). I had also heard a few meows a little later after the air conditioner was turned off only to see that the kitten was still sleeping. I hadn't touched to check and just thought it had be asleep but later in the morning when my mother checked it was dead. I deeply regret not being able to pay better attention to it. It had been in our care for only a day. I can't help but blame myself for what had happened and think of the what we could have done. Would I be punished for my forgetfullness and carelessness. I am aware that it would die when Allah (s.wt.) has meant for it to die but I still can't help but think that it was my fault and I could have done something about it. I feel like I had neglected it and didn't care for it enough.

Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) is His slave and Messenger.

It does not appear from what you mentioned that you caused the death of that kitten, but if you asked Allah’s forgiveness for fearing that you were negligent, then you have done well.

The sinfulness falls upon the one who deliberately tortured and killed the cat without reason, or imprisoned it and prevented it from food, as in the Hadeeth of the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) who said: “A woman was punished and entered Hellfire because she kept a cat in captivity until it died; she neither fed it nor gave it water to drink; nor did she set it free so that it could eat from the vermin of the earth.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

We advise you to forget about this incident and not grieve yourself because of it.

Allah Knows best.

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