Assalaamu alaykum. I know a child in my neighborhood who found a kitten in the street and took it. So when I saw the cat next to my door, I fed him, but I told the child to bring the kitten back to where he found it because its mother maybe looking for it, and I also told him that it is haram to take it from his mother. Afterwards, however, someone told me that cats may eat their kittens, and I have heard people say that the cats eat their kittens especially after a human touches the kittens. So I do not know whether I was wrong or not by telling the child that this is haram?

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

Scholars held different opinions regarding the ruling on separating between a kitten and its mother. It has been authentically reported that the Prophet prohibited the separation between a human mother and her child. Ibn Qudaamah wrote:

"Scholars unanimously agreed that it is impermissible to separate a mother and her child. This is the opinion of Maalik among the scholars of Madeenah, Al-Awzaʻi among the scholars of Shaam (Greater Syria), Al-Layth among the scholars of Egypt, Ash-Shaafiʻi, Abu Thawr, and the Hanafis. The main evidence in this regard is the hadeeth that reads, 'Whoever separates a mother from her child (as in case of separating between the captives when selling them), Allaah shall separate him from his beloved ones on the Day of Judgment.' [At-Tirmithi graded it Hasan Ghareeb (i.e. it is an authentic good Hadeeth that is strange to come from this chain of narration)] Moreover, the Prophet said, 'Do not make a mother grieve over her child.' Ahmad commented, 'It is impermissible to separate between a mother and her child even if she gives her consent.' This - and Allaah knows best - is because such an act incurs harm on the child and because the woman may agree to that which incurs harm on her and then change her mind later on and regret it." [Al-Mughni]

Scholars maintained different views regarding drawing an analogy between this case and the case of separating between animals and their young offspring. As-Sanʻaani wrote, "Note on separating between an animal mother and her offspring: scholars held two different opinions in this regard. Firstly, it is forbidden because the Prophet forbade torturing the animals; and secondly, it is not forbidden based on analogy with slaughtering (i.e. It is permissible to separate the mother from her offspring by means of slaughtering), which is the more appropriate opinion." [Subul as-Salaam]

The Maaliki scholar Al-Hattaab wrote:

"Among the prohibited sales is that which involves separating between a mother and her offspring. The main evidence in this regard is the tradition narrated on the authority of Abu Ayyoob that states that the Prophet said, 'Whoever separates a mother from her child, Allaah separates him from his beloved ones on the Day of Judgment.' [At-Tirmithi graded it Hasan (good)]

Al-Haakim cited the narration and commented on it, 'It is an authentic hadeeth that meets the conditions of Imaam Muslim.' At-Tabaraani cited the hadeeth in his book Al-Muʻjam Al-Kabeer on the authority of Maʻqil ibn Yasaar reading, 'Whoever separates is not one of us.' Al-Lakhmi narrated that the Prophet said, 'A mother should not be made to grieve over her child.' The Arabic word used in the hadeeth and translated as 'grieve' denotes devastation and confusion. The hadeeth means that a mother should not be separated from her child causing her to be devastated and confused.

The author of Al-Ishraaf, Ibn Al-Qattaan cited this hadeeth and then commented saying, 'Scholars unanimously agreed that based on this hadeeth, as long as the child is below the age of seven, he should not be separated from his mother; they held different opinions, though, regarding the exact timing of the allowable separation.....'

Ibn Farhoon wrote in his book Al-Alghaaz, 'If it is said that a man owns two goats and it is impermissible for him to sell one of them and keep the other, then I would say that it is a mother and her young child. It is impermissible to separate them. It has been narrated on the authority of ʻEesa from ibn Al-Qaasim that the ruling on the separation between a mother and her children applies to the animals as well.' Ibn Naaji wrote in Sharh Ar-Risaalah, 'It is permissible to separate the mother animal from her offspring according to the preponderant view in our school. ʻEesa ibn Al-Qaasim narrated that it is impermissible and that the criterion in this regard is the offspring’s ability to dispense with the parent's care by grazing. If children are no longer in need of the mother's care, they can be separated. This view was quoted by At-Taadali and Al-Maghribi. I believe that it is cited in Al-ʻUtbiyyah (Maaliki book of Fiqh), and I am not sure if it was adopted by Shaykh Abu Bakr ibn Al-Labbaad. Ibn Yoonus cited the opinion with regards to the shepherd who is hired to graze sheep and it is customary that he would not take care of the young sheep, the owner is then obliged to provide someone else to cater for the young sheep so as not to separate the young sheep from their mothers. Some scholars interpreted that view as to mean that separation involves torturing the animals and thus it falls under the prohibition of torturing the animals. Al-Faakihaani wrote, 'The apparent meaning of the hadeeth includes both humans and animals as well; I did not find any text (i.e. narration from Maalik) regarding animals. If someone has found a text in this regard, then let him add it to the texts cited here, hoping for the reward of Allaah. Abu Al-Hasan As-Sagheer mentioned in his book on trade in the land of war and the book on trade in hiring a shepherd and in the documents of Ibn Salmoon that it is prohibited to separate a slave-woman from her young child in sale, but this does not apply to animals.'"

Ibn Naaji was referring to Ibn ʻArafah and his scholarly view regarding hiring a shepherd to graze sheep after citing the statement of Ibn Al-Labbaad. He added, "It means that the separation involves torture and it falls under the prohibition of torturing the animal'. And Allaah Knows best." [End of quote] 

Ash-Shirbeeni wrote:

"It is understood from the reference to 'distinction' that it is permissible to separate the non-human child from its mother when the child can dispense with the mother’s milk (weaned); this is the main view of our school of Fiqh. However, it is disliked. Another view suggests that it is prohibited. It is permissible to separate the mother from her offspring by means of slaughtering as stated in Ziyaadat Ar-Rawdhah. As-Subki said, 'It refers to slaughtering the young animal.' It does not refer to slaughtering the animal mother and sparing the offspring. It also means that this refers to slaughtering the animals that are lawful for consumption since it is prohibited to slaughter animals that are not lawful for consumption or selling them for the purpose of slaughtering." [Mughni Al-Muhtaaj]

Now that you know the ruling in this regard, you should also know that you made a mistake by declaring a matter 'haraam' while you did not know the relevant religious ruling.

Ibn Al-Qayyim wrote,

"Allaah, The Exalted, deemed it prohibited to issue a fatwa or a verdict in a given case without having the qualifying knowledge; it is deemed one of the gravest prohibitions ... This applies to speaking about Allaah, The Exalted, without knowledge regarding His Names, Attributes, and Actions, and His religion and the sharee'ah. Allaah, The Exalted, says (what means): {And do not say about what your tongues assert of untruth, "This is lawful and this is unlawful," to invent falsehood about Allaah. Indeed, those who invent falsehood about Allaah will not succeed. (It is but) a brief enjoyment, and they will have a painful punishment.} [Quran 16:116-117] Allaah, The Exalted, warned against ascribing lies to Him with regards to religious rulings, declaring unlawful that which He did not deem unlawful and declaring lawful that which He did not deem lawful. This is a clear statement that Allaah prohibited such an act on part of His slaves to say, 'This is halaal and this is haraam,' without having knowledge of what Allaah has deemed lawful and unlawful. Some of the righteous predecessors said, 'One should fear Allaah and refrain from saying, 'Allaah has deemed such-and-such lawful or unlawful without knowledge;' Allaah, The Exalted, would say to him, 'You have lied! I have not deemed such-and-such lawful or such-and-such unlawful.' Hence, one should not hasten to declare something lawful or unlawful without having adequate knowledge of the divine revelation regarding its ruling merely out of imitation (taqleed) or interpretation (ta’weel)..." [Iʻlaam Al-Muwaqqiʻeen]

Allaah knows best.