Cats and Mice

One of the examples given by Hazrat Moulana Rumi رضي الله عنه in the story of Jaafar al-Tayyar where, in the face of a minority, the majority becomes useless:

If one thousand mice should attack a weak and sickly cat, it would appear that they would be victorious in their endeavor. A few of them can grab him by the neck. One or two of them can then take his eyes out. One or two of them can tear off his ears with their teeth. One or two of them can make an opening at his side, enter and begin chewing the internal organs.

That would appear to be reasonable to accept. However, experience has shown otherwise. As soon as the weak and sickly cat utters one "miau" the whole multitude of mice become awestruck and one by one they flee to safety. The moment they hear the "miau" they become convinced of their being vanquished and visualizing the action of the cat's teeth and paws makes them flee.

The main reason for this is the major difference between the hearts in the breast of the mice and the heart in the breast of the cat. The unity of the heart in the cat and the courage lying in it, is not found in the mice. Hence the mice becoming confounded and defeated in the presence of the cat, is proof thereof that the cat possesses unity of heart and courage. Otherwise it would appear that if a large number of mice should attack the cat, it will be impossible for the cat to escape.

Hence we conclude that even if the number of mice were a hundred thousand, still, seeing a weak and sickly cat, will cause all of them to run away. This proves that numbers mean nothing. The main thing is unity of the heart and courage...

LESSON

Allah, the King of Kings, is the One who grants this unity of heart and such courage. This unity of the heart is of two kinds. One is natural, or common possessed by the Non Believers, polytheists and even animals. The other form is that which is granted by Allah and comes about through the blessings of close contact with Allah. This is what the Sufis term as "Nisbat", for which one has to strive. It is a great favor from Allah to have contact with Him. And there is only one way of attaining this contact and that is through following the Shariat.

(Source: Ma-aarif e Mathnavi: A Commentary of the Mathnavi of Moulana Jalaluddin Rumi رضي الله عنه volume 1 by Hazrat Moulana Hakim Muhammad Akhtar Saheb (db))

The following doesn't involve mice, only captures the actions of a single cat, and has little to nothing to do with the cat but, nonetheless, here it is:

Once when Rabia had immured herself for a long while in her house without coming forth, her servant said to her, "Lady, come forth out of this house and contemplate the works of the Most High." "Nay," said Rabia, "enter rather into thyself and contemplate His work in thyself." Having kept a strict fast for seven days and nights in order to give herself to prayer, on the eighth night she seemed to hear her emaciated body say, "O Rabia, how long wilt thou torture me without mercy?" Whilst she was holding this soliloquy with herself, suddenly someone knocked at the door, and a man brought in some food in a bowl. Rabia took it and set it down; then while she went to light the lamp, a cat came and ate the food. No sooner had Rabia returned and seen what had happened than she said to herself, "I will break my fast on water." As she went to draw water her lamp went out. She then uttered a deep sigh, and said, "Lord, why dost thou make me wretched?" Whereupon she heard a voice saying, "O Rabia, if thou desirest it, I will give thee the whole world for thine own; but I shall have to take away the love which thou hast for Me from thy heart, for the love of Me and of the world cannot exist together." "Hearing myself thus addressed," said Rabia, "I entirely expelled from my heart the love of earthly things, and resolutely turned my gaze away from them. For thirty years I have not prayed without saying to myself, 'This prayer, perhaps, is the last which I shall pray,' and I have never been tired of saying, 'My God, let me be so absorbed in Thy love that no other affection may find room in my heart.'"

(Source: Mystics and Saints of Islam by Claud Field)

THE CAT WHO WENT TO MAKKAH

A Fable from Jordan

A long time ago, the leader of the cats went on a pilgrimage to Makkah. When he returned, the leader of the mice felt like he should come and pay him the traditional visit of congratulations on his safe return as a Hajji, or pilgrim. He said to his fellow mice, “Tradition demands that we go to his house and welcome him back formally.”

But the mice were not convinced. “The cat is our enemy; how can we go near him in safety?”

The leader of mice explained, “Now that he has been to Makkah, and become a Hajji, he is no longer free to do what he used to do before. These days , he remains in prayer from morning till night, and he always makes dhikr on his prayer beads.”

The mice were not persuaded. “You go and call him, and see if he changed,” they said. “We shall wait for you here.”

So the leader of the mice set out for the home of the cat. When he reached it, he found a crack in the wall which he just managed to squeeze through. When he poked his head out the other side and looked around, he saw the leader of the cats with a white kufi on his head. He was praising Allah, murmuring prayers, and every now and then bowing in sajdah and glorifying his Maker.

The leader of the mice decided that the cat had really changed his ways and strode confidently towards him, saying all the customary greetings. But, as soon as the leader of the cats caught sight of him, he dropped his dhikr beads and pounced towards him! And, but for Allah the Preserver, he would have bitten the mouse’s tail right off.

The leader of the mice jumped back into the crack in the wall and ran all the way back to his fellow mice.

“How is the leader of the cats after his Hajj?” they asked. “Let’s hope he changed for the better.”

“Never mind the Hajj,” said the leader of the mice. “He may pray like a Hajji, but he still pounces like a cat!”

(source)

A cat lover, Masha'Allah!

Hideous creatures cats are...

Nobody has ever asked me that in my whole life.

I don't know what to say. Is the cat Salafi, Sufi, Deobandi or Tableeghi? :-)

Abeer was a Devon Rex. She was a wise cat having spent much of her time on the mean streets of London. She had survived the cold winters hiding in the underground tunnels and keeping warm when the London tubes had stopped running. The tracks were always warm having sustained the trains wooshing up and down on them all day. Besides there were plenty of leftovers which the passengers always left behind. Everybody was always in a hurry in London, people were always going somewhere. Nobody ever wanted to just stop and feel the moment but more importantly nobody ever wanted to take Abeer home.

Abeer so much wanted to be at someone’s home and not having to lay down by the tracks night after night. There is another Abeer had, she always felt compelled to run after the rodents. No matter how hard she tried she just couldn’t control herself, the moment she saw a rodent; off she went...Chasing it endlessly and sometimes getting them and sometimes missing then. Abeer never understood why, its something which from the inside which compelled her to run after them. They didn’t even taste nice and half the time Abeer left them half eaten somewhere, the passenger leftovers were nicer.

But why did she chase them? What compelled her? She often thought!

One day Abeer heard of Ustadha Laila the wise Abyssinian who lived in Leicester. Hmm...I must take the trip down to Leicester and meet Ustadha so off she went on the back of train.

Nobody noticed her, nobody wanted her...Sigh, on went the train.

Ustadha Laila was really nice and she offered Abeer some milk and then the two settled down to talk.

Ustadha Laila heard Abeer’s problem and then burst out laughing! Abeer felt bad but Laila kept laughing and laughing. Abeer felt embarrassed, she wanted it to stop and eventually it did.

You know why I am laughing, asked Laila?

No, puzzled Abeer shook her head.

Because this is not Islah, we can’t change our nature! It’s in your nature to chase rodents and mountains can move but your nature (my dear) cannot change!