Kristiane Backer is a former MTV (Music Channel) presenter interviewing ‘famous’ and ‘the big guys’ in the music industry. She reverted to Islam and now champions eco-friendly agenda. She believes that every Muslim should be environmentalists by nature.
She makes the following statement on a very interesting YouTube Video:
“We have lost our respect for creation and our sense of the sacred. The Qur'an tells us how God has created everything in balance and it we upset the balance, it has disastrous consequences, not only for the world around us, but also for our souls… What we need is a revival of spiritual consciousness which will inspire us to all get together no matter what faith to try and save the planet.”
I have always held that part of the peace Islam brings to humanity is the Concord will other non-human creations. Therefore, as a Muslim must have a satisfactory relationship with His Creator which qualifies him or her to Paradise, he or she must also display satisfactory certification of successful relationship with people around him as well as non-human creations around him.
Harmony with all of Allah’s creatures equally attracts to Paradise and should be given equal visibility in our doctrinal teachings as theology and jurisprudence. Be minded that we shall be taken to task if we neglect devotion to Him, as well as to our body, other people and other creations around us (including mother earth), because these are all trust from Allah upon us.
The Rasul (peace be upon him) discouraged a 24/7 worship of Allah (in the mosque or through fasting) to the detriment of the duties owed to your body and others with equal rights over you. Pets and animals in general are a trust upon us, we owe a duty of care to them. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “A lady was punished because of a cat which she had imprisoned till it died. She entered the (Hell) Fire because of it, for she neither gave it food nor water as she had imprisoned it, nor set it free to eat from the earth.” (Bukhari)
Similarly, the Prophet (peace be upon him) narrated that a man was walking on his way he felt thirsty and went down a well and drank water from it. On coming out of it, he saw a dog panting due to excessive thirst. Its tongue was lolling out and it was eating moist earth from extreme thirst. The man thought to himself, 'This dog is suffering from the thirst like I was.’ So he (went down the well), filled his shoe with water, holding it with his mouth, he climbed up and quenched the thirst of the dog. Allah thanked him for his (good) deed and forgave him." The companions with the Prophet (peace be upon him) asked in wonderment, "O Messenger of Allah! Shall we also be rewarded for showing kindness to (or serving) animals?" He replied, "Yes, there is a reward for serving any living creature."
Look around you today and see every creature of Allah as your responsibility to whom you are a steward, wouldn’t your attitude be more positive towards them all. That was how the Prophet (peace be upon him) was in his lifetime and this is what Kristiane Backer, a revert, is calling us all back to.
- Contributed by Shamsideen AbuSuad, UK.
Kristiane Backer has an interesting book on her reversion including her pilgrimmage to hajj
ReplyDeleteIn the second hadith, was it a man who gave a dog this water or the prostitute who did that and then was forgiven? Which is the correct one as I heard one sheikh on Islam Channel state it was the prostitute who acted kindly towards the dog and this alone was enough for Allah to decide to forgive her all
Swordsmen: Thanks for your comment and question. I remember researching this in the past in response to a question similar to yours. Both are correct as both were sited by the Prophet (pbuh).
ReplyDeleteHadith 4.538 in Bukhari (Alim Software) states that Abu Huraira narrated that the Messenger of Allah said: "A prostitute was forgiven by Allah, because, passing by a panting dog near a well and seeing that the dog was about to die of thirst, she took off her shoe, and tying it with her head-cover she drew out some water for it. So, Allah forgave her because of that."
There are four references for the hadith of the man quoted in the article above from Sahih Bukhari alone according to the Alim Software:
Hadith 1.174; Hadith 3.551, Hadith 3.646 and Hadith 8.38.