1006 – Ibn ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with them both) reported that the Prophet ﷺ said: “A woman was punished because of a cat that she had confined until it died; because of it she entered the Fire. She neither fed it nor gave it water while she kept it imprisoned, nor did she release it so that it might eat the insects of the earth.” Agreed upon. (1)

Vocabulary of the ḥadīth:
– fī hirrah (“because of a cat”): here fī functions as a particle of causation, i.e., on account of a cat.
– hirrah: the female cat; the male is hirr, plural hurr.
– sajanat-hā: she confined or tied it up.
– khashāsh: with a fatḥa on the khāʾ—although ḍamma or kasra are also permissible—followed by two dotted shīns with an intervening alif; singular khashāshah. It refers to the crawling creatures and insects of the earth.

Points derived from the two ḥadīths:
1 – Islamic guidance promotes equality between rich and poor, strong and weak, the obscure and the well-known; there is no class system or racism—rather, the believers are brothers.
2 – Accordingly, Islam encourages qualities and actions that uphold these lofty principles so that the Muslim community becomes a single nation. As for individual roles and talents, each person is facilitated for what he was created to do: one who performs a simple task well is like one who handles a major task; each complements the other.
3 – It is better for the head of the household to share his meals with his servants, dependents, and younger guests, without looking down on them or shunning their company, and to do so with dignity.