This hadith, then, establishes that the owner is obliged to provide for any animal he possesses, for the very reason that led that woman to the Fire was her failure to sustain the cat. If this is the ruling for a mere cat, it applies even more emphatically to any other creature within one’s ownership.

The proprietor of a beast may not burden it with work beyond its capacity, for that would be to torment it. Nor may he draw so much milk from a nursing animal that its offspring are harmed, in view of the Prophet’s ﷺ principle: “There is to be neither harm nor reciprocating harm.”

It is likewise unlawful for him to curse an animal, strike it on the face, or brand it there. Should the owner prove unable to maintain the animal, he must be forced either to sell it, rent it out, or—if it is of a type that may be eaten—slaughter it, because keeping it in his possession without providing for it is injustice, and every injustice must be removed.