What is the ruling on my torturing a cat by beating it, pricking it with needles, and leaving it without food, and will I enter Hellfire because of that?
Kindness to animals is legislated, and its doer will be rewarded. There is no sin in not feeding a cat if it is not imprisoned and prevented from searching for its food outside the house. However, if it is imprisoned and unable to search, it must be fed. Imprisoning it while it is hungry and not feeding it falls under the warning of punishment for the woman who imprisoned the cat. It is not permissible to punish an animal by beating or pricking it with needles; rather, it can be driven away and expelled, and one must seek forgiveness for such actions.
Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026
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