Life-of-Muhammad

246Life of Muhammad safrom thirst near a deep well. She took off her shoe andlowered it into the well and thus drew up some water.She gave the water to the thirsty dog to drink. This gooddeed earned her God's forgiveness for all her previoussins.‘Abdullah bin Mas‘ud ra relates: "While we were in thecourse of a journey along with the Holy Prophet sa we sawtwo young doves in a nest and we caught them. Theywere still very small. When their mother returned to thenest, not finding her little ones in it, she began to flywildly round and round. When the Holy Prophet saarrived at the spot he observed the dove and said, ‘If anyone of you has caught its young ones he must releasethem at once to comfort it' " (Abu Dawud). ‘Abdullah binMas‘ud ra also relates that on one occasion they observedan ant-hill and, placing some straw on top of it, they setfire to it; whereupon they were rebuked by the HolyProphet sa . On one occasion the Prophet sa observed adonkey being branded on the face. He inquired thereason for this and was told that the Romans hadrecourse to this practice for the purpose of identifyinghigh-bred animals. The Prophet sa said that as the facewas a very sensitive part of the body, an animal shouldnot be branded on the face and that if it had to be donethe branding should be done on its haunches (AbuDawud and Tirmidhi). Since then Muslims always brandanimals on their haunches and, following this Muslimpractice, Europeans also do the same.TOLERANCE IN RELIGIOUS MATTERSThe Holy Prophet sa not only emphasized thedesirability of tolerance in religious matters but set avery high standard in this respect. A deputation from aChristian tribe of Najran visited him in Medina toexchange views on religious matters. It included severalChurch dignitaries. The conversation was held in themosque and extended over several hours. At one stage