Amina and the Thirsty Cat

On the hottest day of the summer holidays, the pavements of Amina's street in Preston were baking in the sun. Amina was a cheerful six-year-old girl with bright eyes and a gap-toothed smile that made everyone around her happy.

That afternoon, as Amina walked home from the masjid with Mama, she heard a soft meowing sound. She looked down and saw a small, thin cat sitting in the shade of a wall. Its tongue was out, and it looked very, very thirsty.

People hurried past with their shopping bags, but nobody seemed to notice the little cat at all.

"Mama, look! The poor kitty needs water!" Amina said, tugging on Mama's hand.

Mama looked at the cat and smiled. "You're right, habibti. What would you like to do?"

Amina thought for a moment. Her water bottle was still half full! She knelt down a little way from the cat and unscrewed the lid. Carefully, she filled the lid with water, like a tiny cup. Then she set it on the ground and kept very still.

The cat sniffed the lid. Then — lap, lap, lap — its little pink tongue drank every drop.

Mama knelt down beside her and found a small plastic tub in her bag. "Here," she said. "Fill this up, and then it can drink as much as it needs."

Amina filled the tub right to the top. The cat lapped up the water gratefully, then rubbed against Amina's leg, purring softly.

"Mama, did I do a good thing?" Amina asked.

Mama hugged her. "A very good thing, my love. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ told us about a woman who had done many wrong things. One day she passed a well and saw a dog panting beside it. The dog was so thirsty that it was about to die. So she took off her shoe, tied it to her headscarf, and used it like a little bucket to draw up water for the dog. And Allah forgave her because of that."

Amina's eyes grew wide. "Just for giving water?"

"Yes — Allah is so Merciful that He forgave her because of that one kind deed," said Mama gently. "Allah made every creature, big or small, and He sees every good deed, no matter how small it seems. Every living thing deserves kindness."

Amina watched the cat. Its whiskers were still dripping, and it looked much happier now. She felt a warm glow in her heart — the kind of warmth that comes from doing something good.

Before they left, Amina pushed the tub of water into the shade by the wall, so the cat could come back for more.

All the way home, she held Mama's hand and thought about the woman at the well, lowering her shoe down, down, down to the cool water below.

That night, as she snuggled under her blanket, Amina thought of the little cat curled up somewhere safe, not thirsty any more. Tomorrow, she decided, she would fill her bottle right to the top — just in case she met another thirsty friend on her way home. She smiled a sleepy smile, whispered "Alhamdulillah", and closed her eyes.