Monday, May 11, 2009

Loving Cats

Bismillah.

Praise be to my cats who have taught me the meaning of LOVE.
Praise be to the LORD for sending a cat to my door when I was in despair,
Your gestures proved that You are watching and You care!
From Ben to Ngot-Ngot to Ching-Ching,
they purr and knot the hearts of men,
simply by being there.
Today I shall travel 200 miles to see the one I left in His care.
The one I shed a tear for in my night prayer.
That much I love a creature that reminds us of the Prophet none other.
For love is a sweet thing, a gift from the Creator.
____________________________________
Shibli & the Cat
It is related that after the death of the great Sufi Master al-Shibli, a friend saw him in a dream. The friend asked him what God had done with him, to which al-Shibli replied, “God placed me before Him and asked if I knew why He had forgiven my sins. I said that it might be because of the good works I had done, the prayers I had performed, my fasting and pilgrimage, my having associated with pious people and my journeying in search of knowledge. God replied, “O Shibli, these were not the reasons. Do you remember when you were walking in the lanes of Baghdad and you found a small cat made weak by the cold and ice, and out of pity you took it and put in inside a fur you were wearing so as to protect it from the pains of the cold? Because of the mercy you showed that cat, I have had mercy on you.”
(From DARVISH)
Muezza the Cat
Prophet Muhammad advised the people to treat their cats (pets) as a member of their family, and by this he meant to take a good care of them. Not only by words, but also with his actions he was a very good role model. For example: “the stories of Muezza, the Prophet Muhammad’s favourite cat. The most famous story about Muezza recounts how the call to prayer was given, and as Prophet Muhammad went to put on one of his robes, he found his cat sleeping on one of the sleeves. Rather than disturbing the cat, he cut off the sleeve and let him sleep. When he returned, Muezza awoke and bowed down to Prophet Muhammad and in return he stroked him three times. It is also believed that when Prophet Muhammad gave sermons within his household he would often hold Muezza in his lap”.
(From UmmLolCats)

Allahumma solli ala Saidina Muhammad wa 'ala alihi Muhammad

2 comments:

  1. Thank you sister for the story of the cats. It's a far cry from a quotation that I read:

    "Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a function."

    For the past few months, I have a cat. well, my wife like cats a lot longer that I do. Me, you know the saying: "Curiosity kill the cat. but for a while, I was a suspect." I was a bit like that.

    Except for the current cat that we have. mostly because my mother gave it to atie and my love for my mother got something to do with it.

    But they called him 'Kembang'. I think I want to call it Muezza, in honor of the Prophet's cat. I don't know that he has cats before. Thank you.

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  2. Salam N, Thank you for visiting. Yes Muezza is such a beautiful name. May your new cat brings much blessings to you and Atie.

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