Introduction to the Study of The Holy Quran — Page 256
256 also forbade the hoarding of commodities against a rise in the market and insisted that the market should be regularly supplied. Pessimism He was an enemy of pessimism. He used to say that whoever was guilty of spreading pessimism among the people was responsible for the downfall of the people, for pessimistic ideas have a tendency to discourage people and arrest progress. 328 He warned his people against pride and boastfulness on the one hand and against pessimism on the other. He exhorted them to tread the middle path between these extremes. Muslims must work diligently in the trust that God would bless their efforts with the best results. Each should strive to go forward and should seek to promote the welfare and progress of the community, but everyone should be free from any feeling of pride or any tendency towards boastfulness. Cruelty To Animals He warned people against cruelty to animals and enjoined kind treatment to them. He used to relate the instance of a Jewish woman who was punished by God for having starved her cat to death. He also used to relate the story of a woman who found a dog suffering from thirst near a deep well. She took off her shoe and lowered it into the well and thus drew up some water. She gave the water to the thirsty dog to drink. This good deed earned her God’s forgiveness for all her previous sins. ‘Abdullah bin Mas‘ud relates: "While we were in the course of a journey along with the Holy Prophet we saw two young doves in a nest and we caught them. They were still very small. When their mother returned to the nest, not finding her little ones in it, she began to fly wildly round and round. When the Holy Prophet arrived at the spot he observed the dove and said, ‘If any one of you has caught its young ones he must release them at once to comfort it'. " 329 ‘Abdullah bin Mas‘ud also relates that on one occasion they observed an anthill and, placing some straw on top of it, they set fire to it; whereupon they were rebuked by the Holy Prophet. On one occasion the Prophet observed a donkey being branded on the face. He inquired the reason for this and was told that the Romans had recourse to this practice for the purpose of identifying high-bred animals. The Prophet said that as the face was a very sensitive part of the body, an animal should not be branded on the face and that if it had to be done the branding should be done on its haunches. 330 Since then Muslims always brand animals on their haunches and, following this Muslim practice, Europeans also do the same. Tolerance in Religious Matters The Holy Prophet not only emphasised the desirability of tolerance in religious matters but set a very high standard in this respect. A deputation from a Christian