Damūn, do not dispute with me tomorrow before my Lord, for I have never loaded you with more than you could bear.”

Narrated by Abū al-Ḥasan al-Akhmīmī in his Hadith (63/1).

Abū ʿUthmān al-Thaqafī also reported:

ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz—may Allah have mercy on him—had a servant who used to hire out one of his mules and bring him one dirham each day. One day he arrived with a dirham and a half. ʿUmar asked, “What has happened to you?” He replied, “The market has flourished.” ʿUmar said, “No, rather you have overworked the mule! Give it three days of rest.”

Aḥmad recorded this in al-Zuhd (19/59/1) with a sound chain up to Abū ʿUthmān, but I have found no biographical notice for this Abū ʿUthmān.

These are some of the reports I have encountered so far. They show how deeply the early Muslims were influenced by the Prophet’s ﷺ instructions on kindness to animals. In truth, they are but a drop in the ocean, yet they clearly prove that Islam instituted the principle of animal welfare—contrary to what some people ignorant of Islam imagine, namely, that it was devised by European unbelievers. In reality, those nations received this etiquette from the first Muslims, then expanded it, systematized it with precision, and their governments adopted it until compassion toward animals became one of their distinguishing features. The ignorant have therefore supposed it to be uniquely theirs, misled by the fact that this system is hardly seen in practice in any Muslim land, though Muslims are more entitled to it and worthier of it!

Indeed, in some European countries compassion toward animals has reached a level that borders on excess. One example is something I read in al-Hilāl magazine (vol. 27, issue 9, p. 126) under the title “Animal and Man”:

“The railway station in Copenhagen had been home to bats for almost half a century. When it was decided to demolish and rebuild the station, the municipality erected a tower that cost tens of thousands…"