Taking an animal that its owners have let loose: Is it obligatory or merely permissible?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. A questioner says: If one finds an animal that its owners have let loose, is it obligatory for him to take it, or is it merely permissible?
Answer:
If he wishes to treat it kindly, he should treat it kindly, but it is not obligatory for him to do so, not obligatory except as an act of kindness. For a woman who was a prostitute among the Children of Israel saw a dog panting from thirst, so she gave it water. Allah was pleased with that and forgave her. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. A questioner says: If one finds an animal that its owners have let loose, is it obligatory for him to take it, or is it merely permissible?
Answer:
If he wishes to treat it kindly, he should treat it kindly, but it is not obligatory for him to do so, not obligatory except as an act of kindness. For a woman who was a prostitute among the Children of Israel saw a dog panting from thirst, so she gave it water. Allah was pleased with that and forgave her. Yes.
Source
شرح كتاب المنتقى من أخبار المصطفى صلى الله عليه وسلم، بداية من باب ما جاء في إقطاع المعادن — islamhouse.com (50:12)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.