of humankind. No change is permissible in God’s creation; this is the proper way of life and yet, most people do not even know of this.” (Qur’ān 30:30)
Man’s superiority over other species does not lie in his physique. As a matter of fact, physically, man is inferior to animals in many respects. Muslims have often been advised by their mentors to learn lessons from some species of animals. For example, Imām ʿAlī gives this piece of advice: “Be like a bee; anything it eats is clean, anything it drops is sweet and any branch it sits upon does not break.”4
The real criterion of man’s superiority lies in his spiritual volition, called in the Qur’ān Taqwā. This spiritual power bestows on a man a greater measure of balance between the conscious and the unconscious elements of mind, thus, enabling him to make the best use of his freedom of choice. He is considered the best of God’s creation only because of this distinction. Without the power of spiritual volition, this distinction is rendered superficial.
Man’s dominion over animals, in the true Islamic sense, is a patriarchal authority – an arrangement under which the paterfamilias rules the family with discipline and paternal love. The Holy Prophet Muḥammed(s) puts it in these words: “All creatures are like a family [ʿiyāl] of God: and He loves them most who are the most beneficent to His family.”5
The Holy Prophet(s) used to say: “Whoever is kind to the creatures of God, is kind to himself.”6
The Qur’ān puts this analogy in tribal or communal terms in these words:
“There is not an animal on earth, nor a two-winged flying creature, but they are communities like you…”. (Qur’ān 6:38)
According to the learned commentators of the Qur’ān, the word ‘communities’ is used here in the sense of genera, and ‘animals’ and ‘flying creatures’ of vertebra, quadrupeds, mammals, crustacea, reptiles, worms, insects and the like. They all live a life, individual and social, like members of a human commune. In other words, they are communities in their own right and not in relation to human species or its values. These details have been mentioned to emphasize the point that even those species which are generally considered as insignificant or even dangerous, deserve to be treated as communities; that their intrinsic and not perceptible values should be recognized, irrespective of their usefulness or apparent harmfulness.
To define further what it means by ‘communities of animals’, the Qur’ān explains:
“Allah has created every animal from water: of them there are some that creep on their bellies; some that walk on two legs; and some that walk on four…” (Qur’ān 24:45)
The first category includes all kinds of worms, reptiles, centipedes, insects and all kinds of creeping creatures. The second category includes birds and human beings; and the third category covers most species of mammals. The significant point to note is that, physically, man has been put in the same bracket as all other species. The following Ḥadīth leaves no ambiguity in the sense in which the Qur’ān uses the word ‘communities’:
“Abū Hurayrah reported the Prophet(s) as telling of an incident that happened to another prophet in the past. This prophet was stung by an ant and, in anger, he ordered the whole of the ants’ nest to be burned. At this God reprimanded this prophet in these words: ‘because one ant stung you, you have burned a whole community which glorified Me’.”7
The Islamic laws (Sharīʿah) concerning the rights of animals are very elaborate and explicit. In the case of the ants’ nest the following Juristic Rule would apply: “Any damage or a damaging retaliation for a damage is forbidden.” (Lā ḍarara wa lā ḍirār).8
There are parents in this world who are cruel to their children and rulers who exploit their subjects. Similarly, there are, and will always be, people who take the concept of man’s dominion over animals as a licentious freedom to break all the established moral rules designed to protect animal rights. Imām ʿAlī has this to say about such people:
“The worldly-minded people are like barking dogs and wild beasts; some of them roar on others, the strong ones eat the weak and the big ones hurt the small.” And again, writing of those who misuse their authority over the weak, he writes: “A savage and ferocious beast is better than a wicked and tyrant ruler.”9
The following verses of the Qur’ān apply verbatim to those people of our age who are exploiting wastefully the resources of nature and are wreaking havoc in the animated as well as the inanimated world, while defending their actions with clever and seemingly convincing arguments:
“And of mankind there is he whose glibness on the mundane life may dazzle thee, [especially] when he calls on Allah to witness the verity of his statements, because he is very skilful in his arguments. But, whenever he comes to power, he goes about in the land trying to create disorder by destroying tilth and progeny. And when it is said to him, ‘fear God’, his vainglory seizes him in his sin. So, Hell shall be his reckoning – verily, it is a vile abode.” (Qur’ān 2:204-206)
In the context of these verses, the expression ‘destroying tilth and progeny’, means the ‘resources of nature’. Literally, tilth means flora and progeny means fauna.10
The question of man’s responsibilities towards animals cannot be studied without discussing the reasons for man’s ill-treatment of animals. At the same time, the problem has to be understood in the perspective of the inter-relationship between man and the rest of the animated world as well as their inter-dependence upon each other. This relationship is primarily influenced by man’s concept of the status of animals which man gives to them in the hierarchy of various species. To establish in our minds the status of animals is as important a postulate as is the assessment of our fellow human beings for determining our mutual relationships.
We owe a great deal to modern naturalists who have sifted quite a few facts from fallacies, myths and superstitions about animals. The pioneers in this field were mostly the members of the Christian Holy Order in the 17th century who were enthusiastic and bold enough to re-interpret the Biblical chronology of creation, in spite of being accused of and censured for puritanical leanings as naturalists. Notwithstanding the fact that some of their observations and theories have been found to be fallacious, it has been mostly due to their pioneering work that research in Natural History and Science has been given respectability and scholastic interest. As a result, we now know so much more about the animal world, its behaviour, its classification and categorization – most of all, its correlative status vis-à-vis the human world. The Naturalists have also helped us a great deal in understanding better those parts of our scriptures which deal with subjects, such as:
(a) Balance in Nature. (b) Conservation of Species. (c) Animals’ Faculty of Speech. (d) The Utility-value of Animals. (e) The Metaphysics of Animal Mind. (f) Animals’ Right to the Resources of Nature.
The Qur’ān and Ḥadīth have discussed all the above subjects in great detail. However, until recently, few scholars felt any need to study them seriously. Some of those who did, were not interested enough to comprehend their full significance. It is only now, when modern scientific research has started corroborating the Qur’ānic statements, that Muslim theologians have begun to give serious thought to the current problems related to animals.
