Aslam

Praise be to Allah.

It was narrated from the Prophet

(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) – in a hadeeth that has

many corroborating reports and isnaads – that he said: “Allaah will

judge between His creation, jinn, men and animals. On that Day, Allaah

will let the hornless animal settle its score with the horned until,

when there is nothing left to be settled, Allaah will say to them, ‘Be

dust.’ At that point the kaafir will say, ‘Would that I were dust.’”

(Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in

al-Silsilat al-Saheehah, no. 1966)

Among the versions of this hadeeth which we may mention

are the following:

·“All creatures will settle

the scores between them, even the hornless animal with the horned one,

and even one ant with another)

·It was narrated from Abu

Dharr that the Messenger of Allaah

(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was sitting, and two sheep

locked horns until one of them defeated and subdued the other. The Messenger

of Allaah

(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) smiled and someone asked

him, “Why are you smiling, O Messenger of Allaah?”  He said, “It

is amazing. By the One in Whose hand is my soul, their score will be

settled on the Day of Resurrection.”

·“O Abu Dharr, do you know

what they are fighting over?” He said, “No.” He said, “But Allaah knows

and He will judge between them.”

Al-Nawawi said in Sharh Muslim,

under the hadeeth of al-tarjumah:

“This clearly indicates that the animals will be gathered

on the Day of Resurrection and that they will be resurrected on the

Day of Resurrection like humans who are accountable, and as children,

the insane, and those whom the call did not reach will also be resurrected.

There is also evidence in the Qur’aan and Sunnah to support that. Allaah

says (interpretation of the meaning):

“And when the wild beasts shall be gathered

together”

[al-Takweer 81:5]

If there is a phrase in a text of sharee’ah whose apparent

meaning is not impossible whether according to sharee’ah or reason,

then it must be interpreted according to its apparent meaning. The scholars

said: reward and punishment are not essential features of the gathering

and the resurrection. The settling of scores between the hornless and

horned animals is not based on accountability, because they are not

held accountable, rather it is retaliation in kind for the sake of justice.

And Allaah knows best.”

Shaykh ‘Ali al-Qaari quoted him in

al-Murqaah (4/761) as saying:

“If it is said that a sheep is not accountable, how can

scores be settled with it? (Our response is) that Allaah does as He

wills, and He cannot be questioned as to what He does. The point is

to demonstrate to people that rights will not be neglected, rather the

rights of the oppressed will be settled at the expense of the oppressor”

al-Qaari’ said: “This is a good point.

The point is that this settling of scores points in the most eloquent

manner to the perfect justice with which all those who are accountable

will be dealt. If this is the situation with regard to animals who are

not accountable, then how about those who possess reason, lowly and

noble, strong and weak?”

See al-Silsilah al-Saheehah, p.

612