Animal Rights in
Islam
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The teachings of the Qur'an and the Tradition
of the Prophet (pbuh) led Muslims, regardless of their education or social
status, to be kind to animals. It is true that Prophet Muhammad's
(pbuh) main concern was the welfare of his people. He indeed labored very
hard to give them security and sustenance, and before his death, Muslims
were secured and well fed wherever they were. However, this concern
extended to animals and the environment too. Whenever he saw a weak,
bruised, working or riding animal, he found its owner and preached him to
take good care of his animal. One day, the Prophet (pbuh) entered a grove
which belonged to one of the Ansars, and there he saw a camel. When the
camel saw the Prophet (pbuh), he moved toward him. Tears were flowing out
of his eyes. The Prophet (pbuh) approached him, rubbed his head, and the
camel calmed down. The Prophet (pbuh) asked: 'who is the owner of this
camel?' A young man from the Ansar said: 'He belongs to me, O messenger of
Allah!' The Prophet (pbuh) said: 'Don't you fear Allah, Who handed you the
ownership of this beast? He complained to me that you do not feed him and
you over work him' (reported by Abu Dawud). Then the Prophet asked the
camel's owner 'What are you going to do with your camel?' The man
answered: 'we want to slaughter him while he has some flesh'. The prophet
said: 'Don't do that! Sell him to me.' The man answered: 'He is yours O
Messenger of Allah'. The Prophet sent him to graze with the Sadaqah camels
until he died naturally… (See Ibn Kathir – Shama'il ar-Rasul)
Ahmad
Ibn Hanbal reported that once, Umar ibn al-Khattab, expressed his desire
for a meal of fresh fish. His aid, Yarfa', without telling him, jumped on
the back of one of Umar's camel and traveled for two nights going and two
nights returning to buy a basket of fresh fish to Umar. When he arrived
home, he washed the camel. But when Umar learned of what his aid did, he
said to him: 'let me look at the camel first.' He went to the camel and
inspected it very closely, suddenly he turned to his aid saying: 'you
forgot to wash the sweat and its ears. You tortured an animal for Umar's
desires! By Allah, 'Umar will never taste the fish, take your basket away
from me.'
Based on the enormous wealth of Islamic teachings
regarding the respect and protection of animals and the environment, the
renown Muslim jurist Izz ad-din abd as-Saalam, formulated the following
legal opinion on the right of livestock and animals from human
beings:
A person who owns livestock, must spend on them the
provision that their kinds require, even if they have aged or sickened
such that no benefit comes from them; he should not burden them beyond
what they can bear; he should not put them together with anything by which
they would be injured, whether of their own kind or other species, whether
by breaking their bones or butting or wounding; he should slaughter them
gently and with kindness; when he slaughters them, he must neither flay
their skins nor break their bones until their bodies have become cold and
their lives have passed away; he should not slaughter young within their
sight but he should separate them; he should make comfortable their
resting places and watering places; he should put their males and females
together during their mating seasons; he should not discard those which he
takes as game; and neither shoot them with anything that breaks their bone
nor bring about their destruction by any means that renders their meat
unlawful to eat.
Adapted from Animal Rights and Ecology in
Islam Islamic Educational Foundation Illinois, USA 1995 CE/
1415H |
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