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The Prophet's Cat

"Muezza (or Mu'izza) (Arabic: معزة‎) is said to have been the Islamic prophet Muhammad's favorite cat. According to legend, Muhammad one day awoke at the sound of the call to prayer. Preparing to attend, he began to clothe himself; however, he soon discovered Muezza sleeping on the sleeve of his robe. Rather than wake her, he used a pair of scissors to cut the sleeve off, leaving the cat undisturbed; when he returned from prayers, the prophet received a bow from Muezza in thanks. He then stroked his beloved cat three times. The accuracy of this story is not clear, as no references to it are made in the Quran or the hadith.

It is also believed that when Muhammad gave sermons within his household, he would often hold Muezza in his lap. Further anecdotes state that Muhammad sometimes used water that Muezza had drunk from for wudu (washing before ritual prayers). Due primarily to the love Muhammad displayed for Muezza, Muslims are traditionally encouraged to regard cats as lovable and cherished creatures. Mistreating an animal is seen as among the most severe of all crimes in Islam."

- from Wikipedia -

p.s. - I already knew about this and decided to share this piece with you. Another myth (yes, because it might be not true, but still delicious to hear) is the letter 'M' on most kittens' foreheads, the prophet's initial because of his love for his feline friends. [Which I think is not true, because they never use other letters than Arabic at that time] But check it out on the nearest kitten! You should see the 'M' pretty clear. 
Now look at that 'M'!!!

8 comments:

Casey Freeland said...

I like that story. The M on a kitten is also called eyebrows. :) Hey, I have an M on my palms. Does that make me a favored one or something? Oh, wait, everyone has that. Hey, I'll bet you could find an M on nearly every animal in existence. Go ahead. Give it a try. :D

Cheers,

Casey

Grayquill said...

Wow - those are two urban legends, I mean Muslim legends.
I heard that Muhammad actually hated cats - of course that could also be an urban legend, I mean Christian legend. :)
Actually I never heard that at all but I do wonder about those extremist muslims running around bombing things and people if maybe they have been drinking cat water.

Unknown said...

Casey Freeland; Hello Casey! Yeah, I also noticed I have one 'M' on each palms. This is as exciting as Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code!

Look for the M in every thing!

Unknown said...

Grayquill; You bitter old man, you, ha ha ha :) No, there are dozens of stories that tell about the Prophet and assorted cats, but these two were most famous. He loved cats.

But I don't believe those extremists love cats. People who loves their pets will not do such things.

I am evil, yet I love my pets. So eventhough I WANT to kill people for the stupid things they do, i will not do it because my ferrets would say 'Bad Boss!'

:D

Anonymous said...

Grrrr... I am over my 'agreeing with Grayquill phase'.

But that said. Shadowwww... Thanks for this post. You know what? When I was living in the south of India, my immediate neighbor was a converted Muslim. And she could not clarify for me my eternal question. As to why Muslims predominantly like cats for pets. I know they are not supposed to keep dogs. But still. The fondness for cats deserved a story. So thank you! :)

Unknown said...

Choco; You are welcome sister!

CiCi said...

Nice story about sweet felines.

Tenchi said...

forehead with M remind me of Majin Bū, the demon created by the evil wizard Bibidi (a character in Dragon Ball)...

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