Animals in Islam

Islam strongly enjoins Muslims to treat animals with compassion and not to abuse them. All creatures are believed to praise God, even if this praise is not expressed in human language.

The Quran explicitly allows the eating of the meat of certain halal (lawful) animals. Although some Sufis have practised vegetarianism, there has been no serious discourse on the possibility of vegetarian interpretations. Certain animals can be eaten under the condition that they are slaughtered in a specified way, which has been criticised by some animal rights activists. Animals cannot be stunned to death under Sharia, but can be stunned to make them unconscious and unable to feel pain of ritual slaughter carried out post-stunning, this according to the BBC includes most of the halal meat in the UK Prohibitions include swine, carrion, and animals dhabihah (ritual slaughter) in the name of someone other than God. The Quran also states "eat of that over which the name of Allah, hath been mentioned".

Animals in pre-Islamic Arabia

In pre-Islamic Arabia, Arab Bedouin, like other people, attributed the qualities and the faults of humans to animals. Generosity, for example, was attributed to the cock; perfidy to the lizard; stupidity to the bustard; and boldness to the lion.

Based on the facts that the names of certain tribes bear the names of animals, survivals of animal cults, prohibitions of certain foods and other indications, W. R. Smith argued for the practice of totemism by certain tribes of Arabia. Others have argued that these evidences may only imply practice of a form of animalism. In support of this, for example, it was believed that upon one's death, the soul departs from the body in the form of a bird (usually a sort of owl); the soul-as-bird then flies about the tomb for some time, occasionally crying out (for vengeance).

Quran

Although over two hundred verses in the Quran deal with animals and six suras (chapters) of the Quran are named after animals, animal life is not a predominant theme in the Quran; haywan, the Arabic word meaning "animal" (plural haywanat) makes one appearance. On the other hand, the term dābba, usually taken to mean "beast of burden", occurs a number of times in the Quran while remaining rare in medieval Arabic works on zoology. By implication, animals in the Quran and early Muslim thought are usually seen solely in terms of their relation to human beings, producing a tendency toward anthropocentrism.

"The divine will manifests itself in the form of laws both in human society and in the world of nature." In Islamic terminology, for example, a bee is a Muslim precisely because it lives and dies obeying the sharia that God has prescribed for the community of bees, just as a person is a Muslim by virtue of the fact that he or she submits to the revealed sharia ordained for humans in the Quran and Sunnah.

The Quran states that all creation praises God, even if this praise is not expressed in human language. In verse 6:38, the Quran applies the term ummah, generally used to mean "a human religious community", for genera of animals. The Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an states that this verse has been "far reaching in its moral and ecological implications."

There is not an animal (that lives) on the earth, nor a being that flies on its wings, but (forms part of) communities like you. Nothing have we omitted from the Book, and they (all) shall be gathered to their Lord in the end.

— Quran 6:38

According to many verses of the Quran, the consumption of pork is sinful, unless there is no alternative other than starving to death (in times, for example, of war or famine).

Sunnah

Sunnah refers to the traditional biographies of Muhammad wherein examples of sayings attributed to him and his conduct have been recorded. Sunni and Shi'a hadith (anecdotes about Muhammad) differ vastly, with Shi'a hadith generally containing more anthropomorphism and praise of animals.

Treatment of animals

Animals must not be mutilated while they are alive.

Muhammad is also reported (by Ibn Omar and Abdallah bin Al-As) to have said: "There is no man who kills [even] a sparrow or anything smaller, without its deserving it, but God will question him about it [on the judgment day]" and "Whoever is kind to the creatures of God is kind to himself."

According to another hadith, Muhammad issued advice to kill fawasiq ("harmful") animals, such as the rat and the scorpion, within the holy area (haram) of Mecca. Killing other non-domesticated animals in this area, such as zebras and birds, is forbidden.

Conversation with the animals

In one account, a camel is said to have come to Muhammad to complain that despite its service to its owner, it was due to be killed. Muhammad summoned the owner and ordered the man to spare the camel. There is also an account in the Quran sura an-Naml of Sulaymaan (Solomon) talking to ants. and birds, The Twelver and Ismaili Shi'a Imams declared that they could communicate with anything that had a soul.

Hunting and slaughter

Main article: Dhabihah

Muslims are required to sharpen the blade when slaughtering animals to ensure that no pain is felt . Muhammad is reported to have said: "For [charity shown to] each creature which has a wet heart [i.e. is alive], there is a reward." Muhammad opposed recreational hunting saying: "Whoever shoots at a living creature for sport is cursed."

Views regarding particular animals

Bats

In Shi'a hadith, bats are praised as a miracle of nature.

Birds

Birds are commonly revered in Islamic literature, especially in the Sufi tradition, where they are a metaphor for the soul's divine journey to God (e.g. in The Conference of the Birds). In the Nahj al-Balagha, the Shi'a book of the sayings of Ali, an entire sermon is dedicated to praising peacocks.

Camels

Reportedly, Muhammad's camel Qaswa was very dear to him. Muhammad is also reported as having reprimanded some men who were sitting idly on their camels in a marketplace, saying "either ride them or leave them alone".

Cats

Cats have a special place in Islamic culture. Muhammad is said to have loved his cat Muezza to the extent that "he would do without his cloak rather than disturb one that was sleeping on it."

Pigs

Pork is haram (forbidden) to eat, because the pig is an omnivore. But touching a living pig is permissible.

Scorpions

Scorpions are considered to represent viciousness and are considered evil.

Dogs

The historian William Montgomery Watt states that Muhammad's kindness to animals was remarkable given the social context of his upbringing. He cites an instance of Muhammed, while traveling with his army to Mecca in 630 CE, posting sentries to ensure that a female dog and her newborn puppies were not disturbed. On the other hand, in a tradition found in the Sunni hadith book al-Muwatta, Muhammad is reported as saying that the company of dogs voids a portion of a Muslim’s good deeds. However, in "two separate narrations by Abu Hurayrah, the Prophet told his companions of the virtue of saving the life of a dog by giving it water and quenching its thirst. One story referred to a man who was blessed by Allah for giving water to a thirsty dog, the other was a prostitute who filled her shoe with water and gave it to a dog, who had its tongue lolling out from thirst. For this deed she was granted the ultimate reward, the eternal Paradise under which rivers flow, to live therein forever."

According to a Sunni narration classified as authentic by Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj, black dogs are a manifestation of evil in animal form; however, according to Khaled Abou El Fadl, the majority of scholars regard this to be "pre-Islamic Arab mythology" and "a tradition to be falsely attributed to the Prophet".

Another tradition attributed to Muhammad commands Muslims not to trade or deal in dogs.

Many Muslim jurists consider dogs to be ritually unclean (najis). In Malaysia, they have gone as far as banning the use of the term hot dog to refer to the food of the same name. However, "jurists from the Sunni Maliki School disagree with the idea that dogs are unclean." Individual fatāwā ("rulings") have indicated that dogs be treated kindly or otherwise released and earlier Islamic literature often portrayed dogs as symbols of highly esteemed virtues such as self-sacrifice and loyalty, which, in the hands of despotic and unjust rulers, become oppressive instruments.

Abou El Fadl "found it hard to believe that the same God who created such companionable creatures would have his prophet declare them 'unclean', stating that animosity towards dogs "reflected views far more consistent with pre-Islamic Arab customs and attitudes". Furthermore, "he found that a hadith from one of the most trustworthy sources tells how the Prophet himself had prayed in the presence of his playfully cavorting dogs."

Dogs in the Quran

The Qurʼan contains three mentions of dogs:

• Verse 5:4 says "Lawful for you are all good things, and [the prey] that trained [hunting] dogs and falcons catch for you."
• Verse 7:176 says that if you drive a dog away, it lolls out its tongue, panting, but if you leave it alone, it lolls out its tongue anyhow.
• Verse 18:18 describes the Companions of the Cave, a group of saintly young men presented in the Qurʼan as exemplars of religion, sleeping with "their dog stretching out its forelegs at the threshold." Further on, in verse 22, the dog is always counted as one of their number, no matter how they are numbered. In Muslim folklore, affectionate legends have grown around the loyal and protective qualities of this dog, whose name in legend is Qiṭmīr.

Trained hunting dogs and the dog of the Companions of the Cave are described in a positive light, and the companionship of these dogs is mentioned with approval. The Qurʼan, thus, contains not even a hint of the condemnation of dogs found in certain ḥadīths.

Dogs in ḥadīths

Ibn Mughaffal reported: "The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) ordered killing of the dogs, and then said: What about them, i. e. about other dogs? and then granted concession (to keep) the dog for hunting and the dog for (the security) of the herd, and said: When the dog licks the utensil, wash it seven times, and rub it with earth the eighth time." (From Muslim Book #002, Hadith #0551)

Ibn 'Umar reported "Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) giving command for killing dogs..." (From Muslim Book #010, Hadith #3809)

Some Muslim commentators (e.g. Bassam Zawadi) suggest however that these killings were to be limited to "rabid dogs."

Bukhari 4:538:

A prostitute was forgiven by Allah, because, passing by a panting dog near a well and seeing that the dog was about to die of thirst, she took off her shoe, and tying it with her head-cover she drew out some water for it. So, Allah forgave her because of that.

Religious impurity

The majority of Muslim jurists consider dogs to be ritually unclean, though jurists from the Sunni Maliki school disagree. However, outside their ritual uncleanness, Islamic fatāwā, or rulings, enjoin that dogs be treated kindly or else be freed.

Muslims generally cast dogs in a negative light because of their ritual impurity. The story of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus in the Quran (and also the role of the dog in early Christianity) is one of the striking exceptions. Though dogs are not recommended as pets, they are allowed to be kept, especially if used for work and protection, such as guarding the house or farm, or when used for hunting purposes.

Muslims and sniffer dogs

Despite a report suggesting that sniffer dogs trained to detect explosives should no longer come into contact with Muslim passengers, the British Transport Police insisted it would still use them with any passengers, though handlers would remain aware of “cultural sensitivities”.

A proposal was made from the Association of Chief Police Officers of Britain that sniffer dogs used in searching mosques and Muslim homes should be fitted with leather bootees to cover their paws and thereby avoid causing offence. Muslim convicts in British prisons are entitled to fresh clothes and linen if they feel these may have been in contact with canine saliva, while copies of the Quran and other religious items are to be checked by hand.

Muslim cultures

Usually in Muslim majority cultures animals have names (one animal may be given several names), which are often interchangeable with names of people. Muslim names like asad and ghadanfar (Arabic for lion), shir and arslan (Persian and Turkish for lion, respectively) are common in the Muslim world. Prominent Muslims with animal names include: Hamza ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib (called "Asad Allah", God's lion), Abd al-Rahman ibn Sakhr Al-Azdi ( called "Abu Hurairah", the Father of the kitten), Abdul-Qadir Gilani (called al-baz al-ashhab, the white falcon) and Lal Shahbaz Qalander of Sehwan (called "red falcon").

Islamic literature contains many stories of animals. Arabic and Persian literature boast a large number of animal fables. The most famous, Kalilah wa-Dimnah or Panchatantra, translated into Arabic by Abd-Allāh Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ in the 8th century, was also known in Europe. In the 12th century Shihab al-Din al-Suhrawadi wrote many short stories of animals. At about the same time, in north-eastern Iran, Attar Neyshapuri (Farid al-Din Attar) composed the epic poem Mantiq al-Tayr (meaning The Conference of the Birds).

It has even been alleged that the Reynard cycle, a satirical set of fables set in a kingdom of animals, was inspired by similar Arab legends.

Criticism

Ritual slaughter

Main article: Halal § Animal welfare concerns

The ritual methods of slaughter practiced in Islam (dhabihah) and Judaism (shechita) have been decried by some UK animal welfare organisations as inhumane and causing "severe suffering". According to Judy MacArthur Clark, Chairperson of the Farm Animal Welfare Council, cattle require up to two minutes to bleed to death when halal or kosher means of slaughter are used: "This is a major incision into the animal and to say that it doesn't suffer is quite ridiculous." In response, Majid Katme of the Muslim Council of Britain stated that "[i]t's a sudden and quick haemorrhage. A quick loss of blood pressure and the brain is instantaneously starved of blood and there is no time to start feeling any pain."

In permitting dhabiha, the German Constitutional Court cited the 1978 study led by Professor Wilhelm Schulze at the University of Veterinary Medicine Hanover which concluded that "[t]he slaughter in the form of ritual cut is, if carried out properly, painless in sheep and calves according to the EEG recordings and the missing defensive actions." Muslims and Jews have also argued that traditional British methods of slaughter have meant that "animals are sometimes rendered physically immobile, although with full consciousness and sensation. The application of a sharp knife in shechita and dhabh, by contrast, ensures that no pain is felt: the wound inflicted is clean, and the loss of blood causes the animal to lose consciousness within seconds."

See also

• Animal rights
• Animal sacrifice
• Animals in Christian art
• Legal aspects of ritual slaughter

Notes

• Masri, Al-Hafiz Basheer Ahmad (1993). Animal Welfare in Islam. ISBN 0-86037-411-4.
• El Fadl, Khaled Abou (2004). Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature, s.v. "Dogs in the Islamic Tradition and Nature." New York:. New York: Continuum International.
• Foltz, Richard C. (2006). Animals in Islamic Tradition and Muslim Cultures. Oneworld Publications. ISBN 1-85168-398-4.
• Gill, H. A. R. Shorter Enclyopaedia of Islam. Netherlands: Brill Publishers.
• Khan, Tauseef, Honey Bee, in Muhammad in History, Thought, and Culture: An Encyclopedia of the Prophet of God (2 vols.), Edited by C. Fitzpatrick and A. Walker, Santa Barbara, ABC-CLIO, 2014, Vol. I, pp. 263–265. ISBN 1610691776
• Tlili, Sarra, Animals, in Muhammad in History, Thought, and Culture: An Encyclopedia of the Prophet of God (2 vols.), Edited by C. Fitzpatrick and A. Walker, Santa Barbara, ABC-CLIO, 2014, Vol. I, pp. 24–29. ISBN 1610691776

External links

• Islamic concern, a site dedicated to improving Islam's understanding of animals.
• Muslim group supports student's right to service dog
• The great Arab-Muslim-American dog story
• Video regarding compassion for animals by the late Imam B. A. Hafiz al-Masri, Shah Jahan Mosque, Woking, United Kingdom.
• Housni al-Khateeb Shehada (translated Dan Schlossberg), Islamic rulings prove: Allah loves animals
• Animals and Islam by A.R. Spiritual Vegan, Vegan Views 91 (Winter 2001/02)
• Animals in Islam by Al Hafiz B.A. Masri
• Dogs in Islam