Raḥmah — Mercy to the Creation
"He who does not show mercy will not be shown mercy." — the Prophet ﷺ
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Ar-Rahman, ar-Rahim — Allah's mercy, the Prophet's ﷺ mercy to all the worlds, and mercy owed to every creature — an A5 guide.
- The Names ar-Raḥmān and ar-Raḥīm
- A mercy to the worlds
- The command to show mercy
- Mercy to animals, mercy to all
The Prophet ﷺ Sent as a Mercy to the Worlds
Raḥmah — mercy, tenderness, and compassion — is not a marginal virtue in Islam but a defining description of the message itself and of the Messenger who conveyed it. Allah did not describe the sending of His Prophet ﷺ merely as a warning or a law, but as a mercy encompassing all the worlds. This frames the entire discussion: to belittle mercy is to misunderstand the very purpose for which the Prophet ﷺ was raised up.
وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ إِلَّا رَحْمَةً لِّلْعَالَمِينَ
And We have not sent you, [O Muḥammad], except as a mercy to the worlds.
Quran 21:107
The scholars of tafsīr note that this mercy is manifest in the guidance he brought, in his gentleness toward the believers, and in the removal of the harshness and ignorance that preceded him. Allah also addressed him directly regarding his conduct with the people: the softness he showed them was itself a mercy from Allah, and had he been harsh and hard-hearted they would have dispersed from around him (see Quran 3:159).
The Command to Show Mercy
The Prophet ﷺ tied the mercy a servant receives from Allah directly to the mercy he extends to others. When a man expressed surprise that the Prophet ﷺ would kiss and show tenderness to children, the reply was a clear and general principle.
مَنْ لَا يَرْحَمُ لَا يُرْحَمُ
Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) kissed Al-Hasan bin `Ali while Al-Aqra' bin H`Abis at-Tamim was sitting beside him. Al-Aqra said, "I have ten children and I have never kissed anyone of them," Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) cast a look at him and said, "Whoever is not merciful to others will not be treated mercifully."
Sahih al-Bukhari 5997Sahih
'A'isha reported that there came a few desert Arabs to Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) and said: Do you kiss your children? He said: Yes. Thereupon they said: By Allah but we do not kiss our children. Thereupon Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: Then what can I do if Allah has deprived you of mercy?
Sahih Muslim — site reader no. 5871 (Kitāb al-Faḍāʾil)Sahih
The lesson is that a person devoid of mercy toward the creation should fear that he has been deprived of a share of Allah's mercy. This same principle is repeated in a widely-transmitted, authentic narration that extends mercy beyond one's own children to every creature upon the earth.
الرَّاحِمُونَ يَرْحَمُهُمُ الرَّحْمَنُ، ارْحَمُوا مَنْ فِي الأَرْضِ يَرْحَمْكُمْ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاءِ
The merciful are shown mercy by Ar-Rahman. Be merciful on the earth, and you will be shown mercy from Who is above the heavens.
Jami at-Tirmidhi 1924Ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ — graded by at-Tirmidhī (ṣaḥīḥ per al-Albānī)
The Vastness of Allah's Mercy
The mercy commanded among the creation is only a faint reflection of the mercy of the Creator. The Prophet ﷺ described the mercy of Allah as divided into a hundred portions, of which only one has been released into the world — and it is by that single portion that all created beings show compassion to one another.
Allah divided Mercy into one hundred parts. He kept ninety nine parts with Him and sent down one part to the earth, and because of that, its one single part, His Creations are merciful to each other, so that even the mare lifts up its hoofs away from its baby animal, lest it should trample on it.
Sahih al-Bukhari 6000Sahih
Allah created mercy in one hundred parts and He retained with Him ninety-nine parts, and He has sent down upon the earth one part, and it is because of this one part that there is mutual love among the creation so much so that the animal lifts up its hoof from its young one, fearing that it might harm it.
Sahih Muslim — site reader no. 6801 (Kitāb al-Tawbah)Sahih
This hadith instills both hope and humility: hope, because the believer relies on the ninety-nine parts reserved for the Day of Judgment; and humility, because whatever tenderness a person feels is itself a gift from that one descended portion, not a self-generated merit.
Mercy Extends to All the Creation
The Sunnah does not confine mercy to human beings alone. It expressly includes the animals, and it warns against cruelty toward them. The Prophet ﷺ informed us that a woman was punished on account of a cat she confined — a striking indication that oppression of even a small creature is a matter of accountability.
A woman was punished because she had kept a cat tied until it died, and (as a punishment of this offence) she was thrown into the Hell. She had not provided it with food, or drink, and had not freed her so that she could eat the vermin of the earth.
Sahih Muslim — site reader no. 5702 (Kitāb al-Salām)Sahih
While a man was walking he felt thirsty and went down a well and drank water from it. On coming out of it, he saw a dog panting and eating mud because of excessive thirst. The man said, 'This (dog) is suffering from the same problem as that of mine.' So he (went down the well), filled his shoe with water, caught hold of it with his teeth and climbed up and watered the dog. Allah thanked him for his (good) deed and forgave him. The people asked, "O Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)! Is there a reward for us in serving (the) animals?" He replied, "Yes, there is a reward for serving any animate."
Sahih al-Bukhari 2363Sahih
Between these two narrations lies the full ruling: kindness to the creation, including animals, is rewarded, while confining, starving, or tormenting them is a sin that may carry grave consequence. Mercy, then, is a comprehensive character — extending downward to every creature under one's care and authority.
Clarifications and Scholarly Difference (Ikhtilāf)
First, a point of tafsīr on which the scholars differed respectfully: the scope of 'a mercy to the worlds' in Quran 21:107. Some of the mufassirūn (as reported by al-Qurṭubī and others) held that the mercy is general — encompassing believer and disbeliever alike, since even those who rejected the message received respite in this world and were spared the collective punishments visited upon earlier nations. Others held that the mercy, while offered to all, is only realized and fully attained by the believers, who accept the guidance. Both positions honor the āyah; the difference concerns the mode of the mercy's realization, not its wording, and there is no need for partisanship over it.
Second, an important clarification lest mercy be misunderstood: the mercy of the Sharīʿah is not a softness that abandons the limits Allah has set. Allah, who is ar-Raḥmān ar-Raḥīm, is also al-ʿAdl (the Just) and Shadīd al-ʿiqāb (severe in punishment). The Prophet ﷺ who kissed children and gave water to a dog is the same Prophet through whom the ḥudūd and the obligations of the religion were established. True mercy upholds justice and the rights of Allah; it does not set them aside in the name of compassion. Balancing these — firmness where the religion demands it and gentleness in one's dealings — is the way of the Prophet ﷺ and the Companions.
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