Bismillah Ir Rahman Ir Raheem s1

BISMILLAH IR RAHMAN IR RAHEEM

The Thirsty Dog

Adapted for children from an authentic Hadith

Transmitted by Abu Hurayrah

by (Anne Stephens) Khadeijah A. Darwish

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THE THIRSTY DOG

Prophet Muhammad, praise and veneration be upon him, told his companions that they must not keep a dog as a pet, but they could, however, keep one as a guard dog or for some other useful purpose outside the house.

"Why?" you may ask, well a dog is unclean and has a lot of germs especially in its saliva, and we all know how much dogs like to lick their owners. The Angel Gabriel told the Prophet, praise and peace be upon him, that angels will not enter a house in which there is a dog.

This story is about being kind to animals by not harming them even when they may be forbidden to be kept as pets.

A long time ago people didn't have running water from a faucet in their homes like we have today. The only way to get water was to go to a well, draw some water up in a bucket and bring it back home in either an animal skin or a heavy clay pot.

Our story starts on a very, very hot day. There was no escape whatsoever from the heat of the sun. Even the sand was too hot to walk on with bare feet. Although it was such a hot day it had been necessary for a certain man, whose name we do not know, to go out in the heat of the sun. As you might expect, he became very thirsty indeed so when he came across a water-well he was overjoyed.

Now in those days wells, more often than not, had big heavy covers on top of them to keep the sand from blowing down into them and clogging them up. Some wells had a bucket tied to a rope which could be lowered down into the well and then pulled up once it was full of water, but this well did not have one. There was only one thing left to do, and that was to climb down inside the well, which of course, the man did not hesitate to do. The water was lovely and cool, and he kept drinking and drinking until he was no longer thirsty and then climbed back to the top of the well.

When he reached the top, the man saw a poor dog, panting with its tongue lolling out. The dog was so thirsty, it could not reach the water so it started to suck the mud around the well trying to get even the smallest amount of water from it. Now the man thought to himself, that poor dog is as thirsty as I was, I will go back down into the well and bring it a drink of water.

Now there was one big problem, there was nothing to put the water in. Then he was blessed with an excellent idea. When he got to the bottom of the well he took off his leather sock, filled it with water, held the sock between his teeth and climbed carefully, trying not to spill it, to the top of well and gave it to the dog.

Allah was so pleased with the man's kindness that He forgave him his sins, just for that simple act of kindness.

The Prophet, praise and peace be upon him, also told his companions that a similar thing happened to a lady who had committed many big sins. She too had mercy on a dog and gave it a drink of water, and for that simple act of kindness Allah was pleased with her and her sins were forgiven, even though they were big ones! Al Hamdulillah!

On the other hand there was also a person who treated an animal very cruelly. The poor animal was tied it up day and night. Its owner neither fed nor let it loose to hunt for food. Allah was angry and severely punished that person for their cruelty.

The End