عنِ ابنِ عُمر رضي اللَّه عنْهُما أنّْ رسول اللّهِ صَلّى اللّهُ عَلَيْهِ وسَلَّم قَال: «عُذِّبتِ امْرَأةٌ في هِرَّةٍ حبستها حَتَّى ماتَتْ، فَدَخلَتْ فِيهَا النَّارَ، لا هِيَ أطْعمتْهَا وسقَتْها، إذ هي حبَستْهَا ولا هِي تَرَكتْهَا تَأكُلُ مِنْ خَشَاشِ الأرض» متفقٌ عليه.
Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "A woman was punished on account of a cat which she confined until it died, so because of it she entered the Fire. She neither fed it nor gave it water when she confined it, nor did she release it to eat from the vermin of the earth." Agreed upon (al-Bukhari and Muslim).
الشرح · explanation
خَشَاشُ الأرْضِ: وهي هَوامُّها وحشَراتُها.
"Khashash al-ard (the vermin of the earth)": its creeping creatures and insects.
الدروس · lessons
الحثّ على الرفق بالحيوان، وتحريم حبسه مع إجاعته. جواز إمساك ما يقتنى من الحيوان بشرط القيام بكفايته. ظاهر الحديث أن المرأة كانت مسلمة وعذبت في النار بسبب حبسها للهرة ولا يعني ذلك خلودها في النار. إذا كان هذا الوعيد في الحيوانات، فكيف يكون الإثم بالإنسان المعصوم، ممن ولّاهم اللّه إيَّاهم: من زوجةٍ، وولدٍ، وخادمٍ، وغيرهم.
Encouragement to be kind to animals, and the prohibition of confining one while starving it. The permissibility of keeping animals that are kept (as property), on condition of providing for their needs. The apparent sense of the hadith is that the woman was a Muslim and was punished in the Fire because of her confining the cat, though this does not entail her abiding therein forever. If this threat pertains to animals, then how (much greater) is the sin regarding an inviolable human being — among those whom Allah has placed under one's charge: a wife, a child, a servant, and others.