Praise be to Allah; and may His blessings and peace upon our Prophet Mohammad and upon his family and companions.
Islam is a merciful and tolerant religion that calls people to be merciful toward one another so as to win the pleasure of Almighty Allah. Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) said: “ Mercy is bestowed upon merciful people by The Most Merciful (Allah); be merciful to each other so that Allah be merciful to you “ {Abu-Dawood}. Almighty Allah has enjoined kind treatment to the poor, the captive and the weak; He says: “And they feed, for the love of God, the indigent, the orphan, and the captive, “ {Al-Insan/8}.
In fact, Man is a creature that Allah has honored and favored over the rest of His creatures. He says: “We have honoured the sons of Adam; provided them with transport on land and sea; given them for sustenance things good and pure; and conferred on them special favours, above a great part of our creation. “ {Al-Isra/70}.
This honoring entails that Allah has forbidden chastising any human being regardless of his/her color, race or religion. Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) said: “ Indeed, Allah chastises those who chastise people in worldly life” {Muslim}.
The wise law of Islam confirmed, in particular, the impermissibility of chastising a human being with fire as the Prophet(PBUH) said: “ None can chastise with fire except the Rubb{Lord} of the fire. “ {Abu-Dawood}. He further said: “ Don't punish (anybody) with Allah's Punishment. “{Bukhari}. Therefore, chastising a person with fire is forbidden in Sharia regardless of what he/she had committed since doing so constitutes a grave injustice, and since Islam has forbidden inflicting such a punishment on animals and insects; rather, it called for treating them with kindness, so how dare anyone inflict such a punishment on a human being! Moreover, the Prophet (PBUH) added: “A woman was punished in Hell because of a cat which she had confined until it died. She did not give it to eat or to drink when it was confined, nor did she free it so that it might eat the vermin of the earth. “{Bukhari}. In his Sahih, Bukhari has dedicated a section entitled: “ None punishes with Allah`s punishment “, and there is neither might nor power except in Allah. And Allah knows best.
