A Cat Named Muezza...
Sophie! My favourite Egyptian cat! 😍
A Cat Named Muezza...
I always thought that
Egyptians loving cats was just a stereotype from pagan times, where
cats were worshipped and revered as demi-gods and goddesses....
But while Egypt slowly became a Muslim nation and these old beliefs faded, they did not disappear entirely...
There are thousands of cats everywhere we have been so far, most of them in good condition and well looked after. So I asked a local and googled the topic looking for some answers...
Well, apparently it seems that cats are respected and sometimes revered in Islam. And this comes from stories about Mohammed's life found in religious texts:
Mohammed was very fond of cats, and once he was getting ready to go and pray and found his favourite female cat - which he named Muezza – asleep on the sleeve of his prayer robe. Instead of moving her, he cut the sleeve off and went on his way to pray at the mosque, leaving Muezza fast asleep.
When Mohammed returned from the mosque, Muezza purred and bowed out of gratitude to Mohammed who smiled and stroked Muezza three times, blessing her.
And so, according to legend, cats who have patches on their forehead are believed to be descendants of cats Mohammed blessed in the same way as Muezza.
Cats are also revered because they are seen as very clean animals as opposed to dogs, so much so that they are often allowed to roam freely in mosques and in people's homes and businesses such as restaurants, where they are often found stealing tourists and expat's food!
Mohammed is also said to have prohibited the persecution and killing of cats, just like in ancient Egypt, except you could quite easily get the death penalty there for harming a cat!
So while not quite revered as demi-gods like in ancient Egypt, modern Egyptians generally are a nation of cat-lovers and will allow strays to enter their homes and business quite freely. So much to our delight, meeting new cats in Dahab on a daily basis is definitely the norm!
But while Egypt slowly became a Muslim nation and these old beliefs faded, they did not disappear entirely...
There are thousands of cats everywhere we have been so far, most of them in good condition and well looked after. So I asked a local and googled the topic looking for some answers...
Well, apparently it seems that cats are respected and sometimes revered in Islam. And this comes from stories about Mohammed's life found in religious texts:
Mohammed was very fond of cats, and once he was getting ready to go and pray and found his favourite female cat - which he named Muezza – asleep on the sleeve of his prayer robe. Instead of moving her, he cut the sleeve off and went on his way to pray at the mosque, leaving Muezza fast asleep.
When Mohammed returned from the mosque, Muezza purred and bowed out of gratitude to Mohammed who smiled and stroked Muezza three times, blessing her.
And so, according to legend, cats who have patches on their forehead are believed to be descendants of cats Mohammed blessed in the same way as Muezza.
Cats are also revered because they are seen as very clean animals as opposed to dogs, so much so that they are often allowed to roam freely in mosques and in people's homes and businesses such as restaurants, where they are often found stealing tourists and expat's food!
Mohammed is also said to have prohibited the persecution and killing of cats, just like in ancient Egypt, except you could quite easily get the death penalty there for harming a cat!
So while not quite revered as demi-gods like in ancient Egypt, modern Egyptians generally are a nation of cat-lovers and will allow strays to enter their homes and business quite freely. So much to our delight, meeting new cats in Dahab on a daily basis is definitely the norm!
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