a respectful salaam to cats everywhere

What a find! I was looking for Henry James on cats, seriously, and instead stumbled upon the Cats archive on Nour.sg, "the platform where youth culture meets Islamic values through design and lifestyle accessories." Which means inspirational pin button badges. They're adorable.

There's also a blog examining different aspects of Islamic life, which is where I found the archive. Heartwarming indeed. Here is a taste of what I think you will find a very kind wisdom:

The grammarian Ibn Babshad was sitting with his friends on the roof of a
mosque in Cairo, eating some food. When a cat passed by they gave her some
morsels; she took them and ran away, only to come back time and time again. The
scholars followed her and saw her running to an adjacent house on whose roof a
blind cat was sitting. The cat carefully placed the morsels in front of her.
Bashbad was so moved by God’s caring for the blind creature that he gave up all
his belongings and lived in poverty, completely trusting in God until he died in
1067.
(oral tradition recorded in the late 14th century by the Egyptian
theologian and zoologist Damiri (d. 1405)
(Lorraine Chittock, Cats of Cairo, p. 40)

There are lots of such examples and some Islamic cat art too. Look!