Mohammed's Cat, Muezza

The Prophet Mohammed was a cat lover. He once awoke to the call for prayer, but discovered his favorite cat Muezza asleep on his sleeve. So he cut the sleeve off in order to go to prayer without waking Muezza.

Many folk beliefs about cats relate to the Prophet's love of them. The stripes on a tabby's forehead are the result of the Prophet's fingers petting of cats. Cats always land on their feet, never their backs, because the Prophet stroked their back.

Cats are so clean that ablutions can be made with water a cat drank from. By comparison, a dog's saliva is a serious pollutant that causes the angelic messengers of Allah to fly away. The Islamic distaste for dogs certainly isn't the fault of dogs, which are in fact as glorious as cats, but in the Prophet's day the Zoroastrian faith was the main barrier to the spread of Islam, and Zoroastrians held that the dog was of heavenly origin and merited every honor.

So it's cats alone that had the Prophet's highest regard. Once when the Prophet was performing Wudhu (holy ablutions), Muezza sanutered near and looked thirstily at the pot of water. Mohammed stopped his ritual wudhu and held the pot for the cat to drink. When the cat's thirst was quenched, the Prophet resumed his ablutions.

Because of Mohammed's love for Muezza and for all cats, they weave their way throughout Islamic history and religious folklore. Throughout the Muslim world, cats can come and go as they please into any mosque. This is to keep mice out of the mosque, but also because the Prophet adored cats.

Wonderful tales are told of the holiness and goodwill of cats. The grammarian Ibn Babshad was one day sitting with friends on the roof of a Cairo mosque, sharing a repast. A cat happened by and they gave food to the grimalkin.

She ran off with her prize and reappeared on the roof of the building next door, where there was a cat with no eyes. The grimalkin placed the food from the mosque in front of the blind cat, then ran back to the mosque to see if she could get anything else.

Ibn Babshad was so moved to have witnessed the selflessness of a cat that he gave up all his worldly goods and lived in poverty until his death in 1067.

Ahu the companion of the Prophet was called Abu Hurayrah, "Father of Kittens," because of the care he took of a tiny tom cat. He carried the kitten about with him in a satchel.

One day a poisonous serpent raised its head intent on biting the Prophet, when Abu Hurayrah's kitten leapt out of the satchel and attacked the snake. The Prophet appreciatively stroked the kitten's soft back and forehead. For this reason many cats have four stripes on their forehead due to the Prophet's fingers, and if a cat falls, it always lands upon its feet, never on its back, because the Prophet's hand passed along the back of Abu Hurayrah's kitten.