Huzoor (rh): Horses are a beautiful thing to be used. Don’t you like horses?
Questioner: Yes.
Huzoor (rh): So, what is wrong with this injunction? In fact, this is not what is said in the first place. Horses, in fact, were the main mode of travel and communication, and also they were the main machinery of conveyance used during wars. Like aeroplanes, like armoured cars and things. They were the best machinery that could be used by the people of that time. So, most of the Arabs of Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa S.A.W.’s time used to keep horses anyway for the purpose of either offence or defence. And also it was a very useful animal.
In the normal circumstances, even without war, they had to travel long distances, sometimes rapidly, sometimes slowly. And the horses which were found in Arabia were of such high quality that they are known to have travelled 90 some miles without having access to water once during the summer time. In one day they covered such large distances, such was the quality of those horses. So, the Arabs were already in love with horses when Islam appeared. And then the horses were put to such a use as were never before witnessed by the Arabs.
They were kept for the sake of Allah. They were used for the sake of Allah. Not to usurp other’s rights, but to defend the oppressed and against the oppressor. So, the horses acquired a new status. And that is why Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa S.A.W. loved the horses the most for it after Islam. And he said whoever keeps the horses, he will find on the forehead of horses a blessing for him. That blessing has all the connotation of the circumstances which I have described. Because for the sake of Allah they were kept, they were loved, they were trained and they were used all along for a good cause. So, even if they were not horses, anything used for a good cause, trained for a good cause, loved for a good cause, would be of course a very good thing.
So, that is what we find mentioned by Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa S.A.W. Also, he was a good rider himself. He loved horses. He cared for them. And in the Holy Quran we have the mention of an earlier prophet by the name of David P.S. upon him, who loved horses so much. Again, because they were kept for the sake of a good cause, for the cause of Allah.
