The following material (lightly edited) I saved from BBC website some years ago devoted to Religions & Ethics, with a section on “Animals” (the link is to an archived version which appeared later) I am posting this by way of an introductory historical and conceptual background to a future—and related—post.
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“There is not an animal on earth, nor a bird that flies on its wings, but they are communities like you…” Qur’an 6:38
[With regard to ‘communities,’ there is an interesting metaphorical and allegorical poem in Persian (available in English trans.) about aspects of Sufism titled The Conference of the Birds or Speech of the Birds (1177) by the Sufi poet Farid ud-Din Attar, commonly known as Attar of Nishapur. ‘The title is taken directly from the Qur’an, 27:16, where Sulayman (Solomon) and Dāwūd (David) are said to have been taught the language, or speech, of the birds (manṭiq al-ṭayr).’]
“Whoever is kind to the creatures of God, is kind to himself.”—The Prophet Muhammad, narrated by Abdallah bin Amru in Bukhari and Muslim collections
[Incidentally, this reminds one of Kant’s moral psychological view, in the words of Tom Regan, that ‘people who are indifferent to the suffering they cause animals may come in time to form a habit of indifference and thus might be equally indifferent to the suffering they visit upon humans, while those who are sensitive in their dealings with animals may develop a habit of sympathy that is also expressed in their dealings with humans.’ Thus for Kant, the preeminent concern centers on ‘the effects that our treating animals in certain ways [has] upon our character,’ and thus how we may come to treat human animals. It is this that ‘provides the grounds for morally approving or disapproving our treating animals in certain ways.’ Perhaps needless to say, this has come to be seen in many circles as a woefully insufficient basis for animal ethics, however much it may capture an important truth about developmental human psychology.]
(i) Muslims generally believe that:
- all living creatures were made by Allah
- Allah loves all animals
- animals exist for the benefit of human beings
- animals must be treated with kindness and compassion
(ii) Muslims are instructed to avoid:
- treating animals cruelly
- over-working or over-loading animals
- neglecting animals
- hunting animals for sport
- hunting for food is permitted if the animals are killed humanely
- cutting the mane or tail of a horse
- animal fighting as a sport
- factory farming
(iii) Using animals is permitted
The Qur’an explicitly states that animals can be used for human benefit. “It is God who provided for you all manner of livestock, that you may ride on some of them and from some you may derive your food. And other uses in them for you to satisfy your heart’s desires. It is on them, as on ships, that you make your journeys.” Qur’an 40: 79,80
(iv) Muhammad and animals
There are many stories and sayings of the Prophet that demonstrate his concern for the welfare of animals. Once someone traveling with the Prophet took some eggs from a nest, causing the mother bird great grief. The Prophet saw this and told the man to return the eggs. When the Prophet was asked if Allah rewarded acts of charity to animals, he replied: “Yes, there is a reward for acts of charity to every beast alive.” The Prophet said “Whoever kills a sparrow or anything bigger than that without a just cause, Allah will hold him accountable on the Day of Judgment.” The Prophet explained that a killing would be for a just cause if it was for food.
(v) Muslim ritual slaughter
Muslims are only allowed to eat meat that has been killed according to Sharī‘ah. This method of killing is often attacked by animal rights activists as barbaric blood-thirsty ritual slaughter. Muslims disagree. They say that Islamic law on killing animals is designed to reduce the pain and distress that the animal suffers.
These are the rules for Islamic slaughter:
- the slaughterer must be a sane adult Muslim
- the slaughterer must say the name of God before making the cut
- The name of God is said in order to emphasize the sanctity of life and that the animal is being killed for food with God's consent
- the animal must be killed by cutting the throat with the single continuous back and forth motion of a sharp knife
- the cut must sever at least three of the trachea, oesophagus, and the two blood vessels on either side of the throat
- the spinal cord must not be cut
- animals must be well treated before being killed
- animals must not see other animals being killed
- the knife must not be sharpened in the animal’s presence
- the knife blade must be free of blemishes that might tear the wound
- the animal must not be in an uncomfortable position
- the animal must be allowed to bleed out
(vi) Is this a cruel way to kill an animal?
Some experts say that the animal killed in this way does not suffer if the cut is made quickly and cleanly enough, because it loses consciousness before the brain can perceive any pain. Other experts disagree and say that the animal remains conscious long enough to feel severe pain.
Pre-stunning to prevent pain
Secular animal slaughter involves pre-stunning animals so that they are unconscious before they are killed. Until recently Muslim law has not permitted pre-stunning. Muslims feared that pre-stunning might reduce the amount of blood that could drain from the carcass and also because they thought that the animal was sometimes killed by the stunning. But recently (2004) Masood Khawaja, president of the Halal Food Authority, stated that it was not against halal practice to “immobilize” animals, provided they were not actually killed before their throats are cut. Halal meat imported to the UK from New Zealand is stunned before slaughter. Masood Khawaja said that this was acceptable to Muslims, provided the religious rites were observed. “It is acceptable as long as the animal is not dead prior to slaughter, all flowing blood has been drained, and a Muslim has done the ritual slaughter.”
(vii) Experiments on animals
According to Al Hafiz B.A. Masri, using animals for research may be permitted in Islam. The animals must not suffer pain or mutilation and there must be a good reason for the experiment: “Actions shall be judged according to intention. Any kind of medical treatment of animals and experiments on them becomes ethical and legal or unethical and illegal according to the intention of the person who does it.” Masri, B.A., Al-Hafiz. Animals in Islam (Great Britain: Athene Trust, 1989)
See too the article, “Religion and Animal Welfare—An Islamic Perspective,” by Sira Abdul Rahman.
Further Reading
- Abdul-Matin, Ibrahim. Green Deen: What Islam Teaches about Protecting the Planet. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2010.
- Baffioni, Carmela, “Ikhwân al-Safâ’,” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2016 Edition), Edward N. Zalta, ed. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2016/entries/ikhwan-al-safa/
- Epistles of the Brethren of Purity [Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʼ] (Lenn E. Goodman and Richard McGregor, trans.) The Case of the Animals versus Man Before the King of the Jinn. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
- Foltz, Richard C., Frederick M. Denny, and Azizan Baharuddin, eds. Islam and Ecology: A Bestowed Trust. Cambridge, MA: Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard Divinity School, 2003.
- Foltz, Richard C. Animals in Islamic Tradition and Muslim Cultures. Oxford, UK: Oneworld, 2006.
- Gade, Anna M. Muslim Environmentalisms: Religious and Social Foundations. New York: Columbia University Press, 2019.
- Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʼ. (Rabbi Anson Laytner and Rabbi Daniel Ethan Bridge, trans.; illustrated by Kulsum Begum) The Animals’ Lawsuit Against Humanity. Louisville, KY: Fons Vitae, 2005.
- Khalid, Fazlun and Joanne O’Brien, eds. Islam and Ecology. London: Cassell, 1992.
- Linzey, Andrew and Clair Linzey, eds. The Routledge Handbook of Religion and Animal Ethics. New York: Routledge, 2019.
- Masri, al-Hafiz. Islamic Concern for Animals. Petersfield, Hants, England: The Athene Trust, 1987.
- Netton, Ian Richard. Muslim Neoplatonists: An Introduction to the Thought of the Brethren of Purity (Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʼ). London: RoutledgeCurzon, 1992.
- Nurbakhsh, Dr. Javad. Dogs: From the Sufi Point of View. London: Khaniqahi-Nimatullahi Publications, 1989.
- Regan, Tom, ed. Animal Sacrifices: Religious Perspectives on the Use of Animals in Science. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 1986.
- Tlili, Sarra. Animals in the Qur’an. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
- Usmani, Mufti Muhammad Taqi. The Islamic Laws of Animal Slaughter. Goleta, CA: White Thread Press, 2006.
Finally, see too the interdisciplinary bibliography on “Animals: Ethics, Rights & Law.”
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