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RE-INCARNATION.
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inclinations to condemn it to a life which it heartily abhors ? Should we not rather pluck out the tongue if it stand in the way of the realization of our glorious, godly nature ? Let us think and reflect well before we condemn our souls to a life of anguish and torment.
Mahomed, the great prophet of Islam, said* :“The creation is as God's family; for its sustenance is from Him:
cefore the most beloved unto God is the person who doeth good unto God's family,
" An adultress was forgiven who passed by a dog at a well; and when the dog was holding out his tongue from thirst, which was near killing him, the woman drew off her boot, and tied it to the end of her garment, and drew water for the dog, and gave him to drink ; and she was forgiven for that act.
“A woman was punished for a cat, which she tied, till it died with bunger; and the woman gave the cat nothing to eat, nor did she set it at liberty, so that it might have eaten the reptiles of the ground.
"There are rewards for benefiting every animal having a moist liver (i.e., every one alive)."
This last was in answer to the question put to the Prophet by some one ; “Verily are there rewards for our doing good to quadrupeds, and giving them water to drink?"
Mr. Abdullah Suhrawardy adds the following as an explanatory note to the above passages :
"In the Kur'an animal life stands on the same footing as human life in the sight of God. There is no beast on earth,' says the Kur'an,
nor bird which flieth with wings, but the same is a people like unto you (mankind)-into the Lord they shall return.""
If it is true that there are rewards for those who give quadrupeds and other dumb animals water to drink or otherwise show them kindness, and punishment for those who ill-treat them, like the woman who killed the cat,
• See. The Sayings of Muhammad.'
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