Roadkill

This morning, on my way to work, I saw a cat trying to cross the road. It was on the curb, looking at my car to see whether it was safe to do so. It looked nervous, so I stopped my car and let it go across. As the cat barely passed the middle of the road into the opposite lane, one red car just sped up along the road, and nearly hit the cat. Luckily the cat escaped death and dashed straight into a nearby house. Poor guy.

I do not see any reason nor excuse for the driver to do so. From within his field of vision, he should be able to see the cat crossing the road. I think he intended to hit the cat. And this reflects the attitude Malaysians have when driving. They do not respect and value the lives of other drivers on the road, let alone the lives of cats and dogs and chicken and any other unfortunate organism which may happen to cross their paths.

It is just plain evil. As a Muslim, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) had shown us the way to treat animals:

Prophet Muhammad (saw) was kind to every living creature and this kindness knew no limits. He was very kind to animals as well. Arabs, like all ignorant and illiterate people, were very unkind to their animals. It was very common in Arabia to put a collar round the neck of a camel, but this practice was stopped on the Prophet's orders. People used to cut pieces of flesh from living animals and cook and eat them. This common practice was forbidden.

It was also forbidden to shear their hair or tails. Prophet Muhammad (saw) said that the tail was the brush and fan of these animals and hair was their quilt. He also forbade people to keep animals tied to their working equipment for a long time and said, "Don't make the backs of animals your chairs." Animal fights were also made unlawful. Another custom was to tie up an animal and practise arrow shooting on it. This was also prohibited.

Once Prophet Muhammad (saw) saw a donkey on the road with a brand on its face, and said, "Allah's curse is on him who branded it." As people had to brand their camels and sheep in order to identify them, they were told to brand them on parts which were not so tender. Anas (ra) reported that he went into a herd of sheep and saw Allah's Messenger (saw) branding them on the ears.

Once the Prophet (saw) was on a journey with his companions and they stopped for rest at a certain place. A bird had laid an egg there. A man took away the egg and the bird began beating her wings in a state of great distress. The Prophet (saw) inquired who had hurt her by taking her egg. When the man admitted that he had done that, the Prophet (saw) asked him to return the egg to the nest.

From what I see, carcasses of roadkills strewn all across Malaysian roads, I am not afraid to say that Malaysians are a murderous bunch of barbarians. I especially cannot understand why they would just drive over animals crossing the street. If it was a chicken or a cat, maybe they overlooked them, but how about dogs? A grown up dog is big enough to tear a car's bumper apart if it is hit by a car. So where is the rational in hitting these animals? To me, this is plain murder, and God will certainly bring that into account in Judgment Day. Take heed.