thou not that it is Allah Whose praises are celebrated by all beings in the heavens and on earth, and by the birds with extended wings? Each one knows its prayer and psalm, And Allah is aware of what they do.” (Qur’ān 24:41)
It is worth noting the statement that ‘each one knows its prayer and psalm’. The execution of a voluntary act, performed consciously and intentionally, requires a faculty higher than that of instinct and intuition. Lest some people should doubt that animals could have such a faculty, the following verse points out that it is human ignorance that prevents them from understanding a phenomenon like this:
“The seven heavens and the earth and all things therein declare His glory. There is not a thing but celebrates His adoration; and yet ye mankind! ye understand not how they declare His glory…” (Qur’ān 17:44)
It is understood that the inanimate elements of nature perform the act of worshipping God without articulate utterances. They do it by submitting themselves (Taslīm) to the Divine Ordinances known as the Laws of Nature. The following verse tells us how all the elements of nature and all the animal kingdom function in harmony with God’s laws; it is only some humans who infringe and, thus, bring affliction on themselves. The Qur’ān dwells on this theme repeatedly to emphasise the point that man should bring himself into harmony with nature, according to the laws of God – as all other creation does:
“Seest thou not that unto Allah payeth adoration all things that are in the heavens and on earth – the sun, the moon, the stars, the mountains, the trees, the animals, and a large number among mankind? However, there are many [humans] who do not and deserve chastisement…” (Qur’ān 22:18).
The laws of nature have respect for no one and ‘time and tide wait for no man’. Even the most unruly and the unsubmissive have to submit to those laws, whether they like it or not – as the Qur’ān tells us:
“And unto Allah prostrate themselves [in submission] whosoever are in the heavens and on earth, whether willingly or unwillingly, as do their shadows in the mornings and evenings.” (Qur’ān 13:15)
The analogy of shadows is employed here to emphasise the point that man’s submission should be like that of their shadows, which fall flat on the ground in the mornings and evenings – the times of the day when shadows are at their longest.
In the case of animals, however, the Qur’ān tells us that God actually communicates with them, as the following verse shows:
“And your Lord revealed to the bee, saying: ‘make hives in the mountains and in the trees, and in [human] habitations’.” (Qur’ān 16:68)
It is anybody’s guess what form God’s communication with animals takes. We know only this, that the Qur’ān uses the same Arabic word Waḥy for God’s revelation to all His Prophets, including the Holy Prophet Muḥammad(s), as it uses in the case of the bee. It is obvious that the connotation of God’s revelations to His Messengers would be different from that of His revelations to animals. This is a serious theological subject which cannot be dealt with here. Nevertheless, it proves the basic fact that animals have a sufficient degree of psychic endowment to understand and follow God’s messages – a faculty which is higher than instinct and intuition.
According to a great Confucian sage, Hsun-Tzu, who lived in the third century B.C., all living creatures between heaven and earth which have blood and breath must possess consciousness.13 Similarly, the very cognisance of human relationship with the rest of the species in Buddhist literature and the Hindu Vedānta is based on the premise that all living creatures (jiva) possess the faculties of thinking and reasoning (Manas)
f. Rights in the Resources of Nature
Once it has been established that each species of animals is a ‘community’ like the human community, it stands to reason that each and every creature on earth has, as its birth-right, a share in all the natural resources. In other words, each animal is a tenant-in-common on this planet with human species. Let us see now why some human beings do not act according to the terms of this joint tenancy. The inequitable attitude of some people towards animals seems to be a legacy from the early ages when man had to compete with them for food in order to survive. Man has always been in competition with animals for food, and the problem has been aggravated in the current world-situation, especially because of modern agrarian mismanagement. The Qur’ān has tried to allay this fear of man by reassuring him that God is not only the Creator but also the Sustainer and the Nourisher of all that He creates. However, the Qur’ān lays down the condition that human beings, like all other creatures, shall have to work for their food; and that their share would be proportionate to their labour. The following verse serves as the maxim for this principle.
“And that man shall have nothing, but what he strives for.” (Qur’ān 53:39)
In the following verse this stipulation is repeated in the words: ‘those who seek’, with the additional proviso that God provides according to the needs of the people:
“And [God] bestowed blessings on the earth, and measured therein sustenance in due proportion…; in accordance with the needs of those who seek.” (Qur’ān 41:10)
The conditions laid down in the above two verses for human beings to work for their food seems to be conveniently ignored by some people. Some tend to rely solely on God’s beneficence – lying down on their backs with their mouths open and waiting for the manna from heaven to fall therein. Others have invented dubious ways and means to get more than their share by as little work as possible. Some of those who do work, muscle in to poach on others’ preserves – and who can be an easier prey for exploitation than the poor defenceless animals who cannot fight back for their rights?
Those who expect to be fed by God, the Sustainer, without working for their bread fail to understand the real sense of the doctrine of ‘pre-destination’, or ‘fate’ (Qaḍā’ wa Qadar or Qismah). The literal meaning of ‘pre-destination’, in the Islamic sense is: “pre-fixing the fate of some one or some thing” in the sense of determining the capacity, capability, endowment, function and other faculties. The Qur’ān uses the Arabic word ‘taqdīr’ meaning ‘destiny’ even for the decreed orbits of the planetary motions, but also for inorganic substances as well as for animated creatures including human beings. Within those pre-fixed limitations, however, conditions could be changed for the better: suffering could be avoided or lessened by human effort and skill.
Unlike some human beings, animals are quite capable of satiating their hunger and of procuring all their necessities of life, if man would only let them do so without interference. The Qur’ān repeatedly hammers home the fact that food and other resources of nature are there to be shared equitably with other creatures. Below are just a few of the numerous such verses:
“Then let man look at his food: how We pour out water in showers, then turn up the earth into furrow-slices and cause cereals to grow therein – grapes and green fodder; olive-trees and palm-trees; and luxuriant orchards, fruits and grasses…”
Let us stop at this point of the quotation and ask ourselves the question: ‘what for and for whom has this sumptuous meal been laid out?’ The last line of the verse tells us that all these bounties of nature are there as:
“Provision for you as well as for your cattle.” (Qur’ān 80:24-32)
Again, in the following verses, the bounties of nature are enumerated with the accent on animals’ share in all of them:
“And
