The Carrot and the Cat

Now some people will not abide in it; there are people who leave it. There is an interesting tradition — this is just a story, but it is an interesting tradition — because the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said that how people die is how they are raised up, and how they are raised up is how they are judged.

And there is a story of a woman who, they tell, never did one kind deed, except that once she was going into her house and a carrot dropped, and a cat came and took the carrot. And this is based on a hadith in which the Prophet (peace be upon him) said that there will be people punished because they did not feed animals that were in their responsibility — that they are actually punished for that; it is like a responsibility. And so this person was going to go and get the carrot, and just decided: no, I will let the cat have it.

And so they are in the pit of fire, and a carrot comes down, and they hold on to the carrot, and they start getting pulled up out of the fire on this carrot. But then she looks down, and there are other people coming out holding on to her; so before you know it there is a whole string of people getting pulled out of the fire because of this one carrot. And then she starts saying: no, this is my carrot. And she slips and falls back in. So it is just giving an idea of how people are in this world: it is going to be confirmed in the next world, that they are miserable.

Now there is a hadith — and it is a ṣaḥīḥ hadith — that a prostitute went to a well and got water up from the well, and she saw a hungry, thirsty dog, and she said: this dog is thirsty like I am. So she put her shoe down and brought water up and quenched the thirst of the dog. And the Prophet (peace be upon him) said that for that she was forgiven, and given paradise.

There is another tradition that says that a man used to lend money, and he would tell his agents: go out and ask to be repaid, and if they do not have the money, tell them not to worry about it. And so the Prophet (peace be upon him) said that when that man is brought before God, God says: I am more generous than this man in forgiving his debtors. And He forgives him.

So if you look in the Islamic tradition, there is a very, very strong emphasis on forgiveness and raḥmah. But there is also an emphasis on wrath. There is a balance here, even though the Muslims say God's raḥmah is over His wrath. And there is a tradition that says that God's mercy is ninety-nine parts, and only one part did He send down to the earth; and by that part of mercy a mother shows mercy to her child, and the mare raises her leg from stepping on the foal. So the idea is that all of the mercy in this world that we see is only one small portion of the mercy of God. So there is a strong emphasis on God's mercy; but there is also a strong emphasis on the wrath.