Our merciful religion has urged us to build compassion in our hearts, for it is the trait of good hearts that show mercy and treat others with kindness in their sadness and joy, overlooking others’ transgression against their right, and distinguished by kindness of heart and its softness.
And the compassion in the heart of a Muslim drives him to do good without thinking in return for what he has done of good, and it is contrary to harshness and severity, which may ruin innocent souls without feeling sorry for them.
And compassion is one of the attributes of God Almighty, for it is one of the beautiful names of God, with which everything began, starting from the Noble Book of God, In the name of God the Most Gracious the Most Merciful, and in this is a very strong indication of the importance of compassion in Islam and its great value for the Muslim.
Manifestations of Compassion in Islam: The images of compassion multiplied and appeared first in the compassion of God with His worshipers, so He sent to them His Noble Book and His Messenger, peace be upon them all, and guided people to their lives, from their beginning as a fetus in the womb until their death.
The image of compassion also appears with parents, where God, glory to Him the Most High, commanded the children to have mercy on their fathers and mothers, so He stated in His Noble Book, In the name of God the Most Gracious the Most Merciful (And lower to them the wing of humility out of mercy and say My Lord have mercy on them as they raised me when I was small) [Al-Isra: 24].
Our religion also reminds us of compassion with kinship, for the Lord Almighty has commanded us with it through the command of maintaining ties of kinship, so He extends to us the hand of help, patronizes the orphan from us, and presents to them all images of goodness and love.
As for the sick, they had a greater and stronger share from the compassion that God commanded us with, for they are most deserving of service and striving for their healing, and helping them to overcome the infirmity and disease that exhausts them, for they are always in need of those who are compassionate with them and a kindness that helps them to overcome difficulties.
Finally and not last, the greatness of our merciful religion appears in commanding us to have compassion with animals, so it is not permissible for a Muslim to oppress an animal that cannot defend itself, so we do not harm him or describe him with evil. Rather our noble Messenger, peace be upon him, has commanded us to have compassion with them, where the noble Prophet said in a hadith of his that a woman entered Hell because of a cat she imprisoned, she did not feed her and did not let her eat from the vermin of the ground.
And this is our story about compassion with animals.
There was a beautiful and compassionate child named Shahad, of a good age of her life. All members of her family and her friends and her neighbors loved her because of her gentle upbringing and her good behavior, and also her severe striving towards the side of her good deeds.
And Shahad used to see herself that she would help whoever was around her, whether big or small, and she would not refrain from extending help to animals as well, for she saw in them weak creatures deserving compassion, as our religion commanded with taking care of them after harming her and helping her if she needed.
One morning before Shahad set out towards her school, she woke up early to eat breakfast food. She sat waiting for her mother, preparing for her some sandwiches of cold meat to take with her in the school bag. Shahad thanked her mother for what she had done for her, then she set out on the way to school.
During her walking on the way, Shahad noticed that her neighbors had set out putting their small kitten in a corner close to their house, and the small cat was suffering severely. Here Shahad began to look at the cat and what was around him. She noticed that her neighbors, unfortunately, had not put food or drink for the small cat, so she became severely sad about their action, especially since they had traveled yesterday, and therefore this is the second day that the cat sits without food or drink.
Shahad remembered the food that her mother had prepared for her in the morning before she went to school, so she opened her bag and brought out the sandwiches from it, then presented them to the small cat, who began to eat them with hunger and thirst. Shahad looked at him with a compassionate and merciful look, then put some water for him. The cat ate and drank and began to rub against her feet, in an attempt from him to thank her.
Shahad kept passing by the cat every day, putting food and drink for him and reassuring him that he was good, until her neighbors returned after the passing of several days. The first thing Shahad said to them after she rejoiced at their safe return, was that they must have apologized, to this weak animal, and that it is not of compassion to leave him tied without food or drink. Here her neighbors felt their mistake and apologized from her, with a promise from them not to do this again, and they thanked her for her help to him.