http://www.webislam.com/
http://dai.ly/bPQmFU
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7n2np_halal-non-halal_animals
http://laverabestia.org/play.php?vid=1808
That's not halal killing: Indonesian cleric joins attack on cattle slaughter
THE brutal methods used at 11 Indonesian abattoirs now banned from importing live cattle from Australia are wrong according to Islamic law, a senior Indonesian cleric declared yesterday.
Sholahudin al-Ayubi, secretary of the Indonesian Ulema Council, the national clerical organisation, said the practices that had been exposed - the gouging of cattle's eyes, slashing with blunt knives and the breaking of limbs - were unacceptable under sharia.
"Slaughtering has to be done in the Islamic way to make the meat halal (lawful)," Mr Sholahudin said. "The point of Islamic slaughtering is ihsan (best behaviour): for example, sharpening the knife so the animal does not feel pain and dies right away."
Mr Sholahudin's comment came as outrage over the barbarous treatment of animals in Indonesian slaughterhouses sparked diplomatic tension with Jakarta and forced the Gillard government to suspend live animal exports to at least 11 abattoirs.
Although Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig has left open the door to a total ban on imports to Indonesian abattoirs, the cattle industry has warned that an overreaction could shut down the $330 million trade and threaten thousands of jobs. The controversy has also sparked rare consensus in Canberra, with Nationals leader Warren Truss urging colleagues to back Labor's response, noting that seasoned cattlemen would have "tears in their eyes" after seeing a report on the ABC's Four Corners program highlighting mistreatment of exported cattle.
Queensland cattleman John Wharton said yesterday he was disgusted by the inhumane treatment of livestock in Indonesia, but said education and investment in overseas abattoirs - rather than a blanket export ban - were the only solutions to protect both the animals and industry.
"It is not the way we do things in this country and not what we should accept for the cattle we send overseas."
The Indonesian Ulama Council co-operates with Indonesia's Agriculture Ministry to ensure production of food, drugs and cosmetics labelled halal comply with Islamic law. But another council official, from the halal research division, said enforcement of slaughterhouse standards was the government's duty.
Leading figures in Indonesia's meat industry yesterday ducked for cover, mostly blaming the scandal on Australia's domestic and trade politics.
Vice-Minister of Agriculture Bayu Krisnamurthi asked Australians to "understand that the level of development of Indonesians is different from the level of development of Australians".
He did not suggest any immediate punishment for the offending abattoir operators, saying the first step was to give them "guidance" on humane standards.
Others claimed the row in Australia was motivated by self-interest.
Herman Khaeron, deputy head of the national parliament's agriculture, forestry and fishery commission, said: "They don't want Indonesia to be self-supporting in (the) beef business. Australia is happy with our dependency on their frozen beef, because Indonesia is a big potential market."
At a meeting of Labor MPs early yesterday, Senator Ludwig promised an inquiry but was confronted by about 20 Labor backbenchers wanting stronger action and complaining their constituents had contacted them expressing their outrage.
After the caucus meeting, which Labor sources described as fiery, Senator Ludwig agreed to a suspension on exports to the Indonesian slaughterhouses featured in the report.
The two backbenchers who pushed for the action - Janelle Saffin from NSW and Victorian Kelvin Thomson - tabled a motion outlawing all exports of live cattle to Indonesia. It will be debated at the next caucus meeting in a fortnight.
After the Labor meeting, Senator Ludwig said no one accepted the mistreatment of animals and he had ordered an immediate inquiry.
"These images are shocking and unacceptable," he said.
"I am not going to rule anything in or out at this stage. I haven't ruled out suspending trade with any further abattoirs . . . it is important for us to have good welfare outcomes for our livestock."
An RSPCA spokeswoman said last night it would be difficult for another country as close as Australia to supply Indonesia with live cattle exports if Australian trade was banned.
"The reason being is that Australia, Canada and Mexico are the only countries (that export live cattle) with foot-and-mouth disease-free status," she said.
Pastoralist Terry Underwood, who runs a 3000sq km cattle station in the Northern Territory with her husband John, said a total ban on live exports would not stop mistreatment of animals in Indonesia, and put operations like hers at risk.
"Closing Australia out of Indonesia would not stop the problem because the Indonesian population is dependent on the wet market, they will still need live animals," she said.
"The way forward is to fix the problem at the point of slaughter in Indonesia, it doesn't happen everywhere but sadly cruelty still exists in some places."
Cattle Council chief executive David Inall agreed, saying an outright ban would smash the industry. Mr Inall welcomed the move to weed-out abattoirs that were not up to standard but said hold-ups importing stun-guns to Indonesia had slowed progress.
Northern Territory live cattle exports are Indonesia's main source of imported beef, although quotas and size restrictions have been used increasingly in recent years to promote domestic cattle production, ostensibly in the name of food self-sufficiency.
Australian producers this year have a quota of 500,000 head of cattle, which must weigh less than 350kg, and 50,000 tonnes of boxed beef meat which Indonesian importers claim is creating a serious shortage.
However Joni Liano, executive director of the Indonesian Association of Meat and Feedlot Producers, claimed the abattoirs scandal was a manifestation of domestic politicking.
"The NGOs in Australia, who said that we comply with the animal welfare standard, that's their domestic politics," Mr Joni told the detik.com news portal. "Their aim is trade - they are not happy to send live cattle to Indonesia. Maybe what they want is for all the meat they send to Indonesia to be slaughtered (in Australia)."
In this wonderful book, we are informed that: “Unlike humans, animals always naturally conform to their environment; in this sense they are ‘Muslims’ ¾ literally ones who naturally submit to the laws of the Creator.”
As the Quran advises, we humans must likewise submit to the laws of the Creator through reverence for all life and respect for the sanctity of Creation. This wisdom of Islam is as relevant today as its conception by the Great Prophet. And it is more urgent than ever that Muslims and others fully understand this biosopheric gem of insight. It enables us to understand that to be obedient to the will of God is to conform to the laws of nature. All but human life-forms conform naturally, instinctively. The telos ¾ life’s final purpose and instrumental value ¾ is at the interface of every living being and the environment and ensures the continuance of the Creative process. For a Muslim, this telos includes experiencing, through Nature, God’s divine conception, love and will, in the phenomenal world, which is the source of our spiritual and ethical sensibility and what the Quran calls true innate nature or pattern – fitrah.
The practice of Islam, as well as of the two other monotheistic traditions, namely, Judaism and Christianity, has become severely corrupted over the centuries. Linear, hierarchical, dualistic and patriarchal modes of perception, cognition and behaviour have eroded the pristine vision of pure and unadulterated monotheism. However, if we take, for example, Jesus’ actual teachings, then what G.K. Chesterton once said about Christianity may hold a grain of truth for most other religious traditions: Namely, that “there is nothing wrong with Christianity except that no one has ever tried it.”
Yet thanks to insightful books like Ecolibrium this great belief system, its ethics, compassion and respect for all life, is being restored. Such restoration is vital to the material, spiritual and physical well-being of humanity, and to the ecological integrity and future of the earth community.
Ecolibrium is an affirming guide and inspiration, highlighting the teachings of Islam from a God and creation-centred perspective. As the authors reveal, these teachings will help humanity realize the source of its pathology and find how best to heal itself. By way of this concern, we discover our cosmic place in Creation, and our telos in God-centred awareness is realized.
Until I became familiar with the writings and works of Al-Hafiz B. A. Masri, one of the co-authors of the present work, I was uninformed about the true nature and relevance of Islam. I now appreciate the deep spiritual and practical relevance and significance of what it means to be Muslim – true to one’s God-given nature, like animals always are, as our teachers and exemplars of divine purpose and conception. Human nature is embedded in the entire life-cycle of this solar system that has birthed a consciousness that can apprehend the process by which it came to be: its origin and divine purpose. When humans attain such apprehension and live mindfully, conscientiously and gently, they are Muslim, obedient to their true natures, the ethos and telos the Creator/Sustainer has bestowed upon them.
When we realize that all wounds are ultimately self-inflicted, we begin to heal ourselves by changing our behaviour so that we stop harming others, be they other humans, non-human beings, natural systems, lakes forests savannas, swamps and the elements themselves, which we have made increasingly toxic. The waste we burn, the rains that fall, the water we drink and irrigate our crops with, like the soil and air, are all contaminated with human created chemical and radioactive wastes, even to the extent that we now have an ozone hole and pesticide rain. We have so altered the ecological dynamics and metabolism of the planet that we now have life-and future-threatening climate change/global warming, a kind of Earth-fever that we can no longer ignore. There is much healing to be done, and suffering prevented, and this book is a major call and contribution to these reasonable and just ends.
For those people who are troubled by the word God and are atheists and agnostics, they, along with secular materialists, do not see the word and will of God written and manifest in Nature’s laws, processes, and myriad life forms. To be blind to this great beauty and mystery is to be blind to God, deaf to the music and rhythms of life, and thus not yet born, according to the Quran, into the light of our natural being-in-awareness. But when we are not so called God-Blind and autistically disconnected from Nature and from our own nature and cosmic origin in stardust and starlight, we realize that, “This ruh is by my Sustainer’s command: you have been granted but a small portion of the body of knowledge,” needed to know its exact nature, as stated in the Quran.
We do indeed see through the glass darkly, but what we can see is as life affirming as it is life sustaining. When we do not see, we do not seek, and become separate from our origins, from Nature and the divine source, we separate ourselves from God. Such separation brings sin and evil into the world because we are no longer in right-relationship and right-mindedness with God and Nature. This separated, dualistic state may be a natural developmental stage for Homo-sapiens, a kind of spiritual adolescence through which we must all pass. But in our contemporary industrial consumer society, this developmental progression has been arrested, creating a collective condition of destructive adolescent-like alienation, arrogance and selfish indifference. The suffering of sentient life and state of the natural world attest to the pathology of the human condition. We may have some god-like powers, but we think we can play God and turn the natural world into a bioindustrially raped and desecrated wasteland to sate our own exclusive materialistic needs, claims and aims.
Ecolibrium provides us with the insight and wisdom to help us overcome this developmental impasse for the good and glory of all Creation. The choice is ours: suicide, ecocide and deicide — or adoration.
There is no denying the importance of plants and animals as living resources of enormous benefit, without which neither man nor other species could survive. God has not made any of His creatures worthless: every single form of life is the product of a special and intricate development by God, and each warrants special respect. As a living genetic resource, each species and variety is unique and irreplaceable. Once lost, it is lost forever.
By virtue of their unique function of producing food from the energy of the sun, plants constitute the basic source of sustenance for animal and human life on earth. God has said:
“Then let man consider his nourishment: that We pour down the rain in showers, and We split the earth in fragments, and therein make the grain to grow, and vines and herbs, and olives and palms, and gardens of dense foliage, and fruits and fodder - provision for you and your cattle.” (Quran 80:24-32)
In addition to their importance as nourishment, plants enrich the soil and protect it from erosion by wind and water. They conserve the water by detaining its runoff; they moderate the climate and produce the oxygen which we breathe. They are also of immense value as medicines, oils, perfumes, waxes, fibers, timber, and fuel. God has said in the Glorious Quran,
“Have you seen the fire you kindle? Was it you who grew its timber or did We grow it? We have made it a reminder, and a comfort for the desert dwellers.” (Quran 56:71-73)
Animals in turn provide sustenance for plants, for one another, and for man. Their dung and their bodies enrich the soil and the seas. They contribute to the atmosphere by respiration and by their movements and migrations contribute to the distribution of plants. They provide food for one another and provide mankind with leather, hair and wool, medicines and perfumes, and means of conveyance, as well as meat, milk, and honey. And for their highly developed senses and perceptions and their social interrelationships, animals are accorded special regard in Islam. For God considers them living societies exactly like mankind. God has declared in the Glorious Quran:
“There is not an animal on the earth, nor any being that wings its flight, but is a people like unto you...” (Quran 6:38)
The Glorious Quran mentions the aesthetic functions of these creatures as objects of beauty in addition to their other functions. Since peace of mind is a religious requirement which needs to be fully satisfied, those things which cause it should be amply provided and conserved. God has made in plants and animals that which excites wonder and joy in man’s soul so as to satisfy his peace of mind, a factor which is essential for man’s proper functioning and full performance.
The Glorious Quran also mentions other functions which these creatures perform and which man may not perceive, namely the functions of worshipping God, declaring if His praise and bowing down to Him as they are compelled by their very nature to do. God has said,
“Do you not see that to God bow down in worship all things that are in the heavens and on the earth - the sun, the moon, the stars, the mountains, the trees, the animals…” (Quran 22:18)
“The seven heavens and the earth and all the beings therein proclaim His glory: There is not a thing but celebrates His praise, but you understand not how they declare His glory…” (Quran 17:44)
“To God bow all beings in the heavens and the earth - with good will or in spite of themselves…” (Quran 13:15)
Islam emphasizes all measures for the survival and perpetuation of these creatures so that they can fully perform the functions assigned to them. The absolute destruction of any species of animals or plant by man cannot be justified; nor should any be harvested at a rate in excess of its natural regeneration. This applies to hunting and fishing, forestry and wood-cutting for timber and fuel, grazing, and all other utilization of resources. It is imperative that the genetic diversity of living beings be preserved - both for their own sake and for the good of mankind and all other creatures.
Animals in Islam
Excerpts are from the book by the same name, written by Al-Hafiz B.A. Masri, the first Sunni Imam of the Shah Jehan mosque (Woking, U.K.) when it was the Islamic center of Europe. He is widely respected for the depth of his scholarship in this field. (An Imam is a scholar who has studied the Koran and memorized it in its entirety.)
The sources quoted in this book are the Qur'an Majeed, the first source of Islamic law (Shari'ah); Hadith or Tradition, the second source; and Ijtihad, inference by analogy, the third source. Together, these three sources make up Islamic case law or 'Juristic Rules" (qwdidatul-fiqhiyah) that are the guidelines to be followed for any legal question. Many issues relating to animals, such as vivisection, factory farming, and animal rights did not exist 14 centuries ago and therefore, no specific laws were passed about them. To decide on issues developed in recent times, Islamic Jurisprudence (fiqh) has left it to Muslim Jurists (fuqaha'a) to use their judgement by inference and analogy, based on the three above-mentioned sources.
Many Many thanks to CHAI where the following sections were taken from.
[Top]
Dominion Over Animals
The Qur'an Majeed states that man has dominion over animals: "He (God) it is Who made you vicegerents on earth." (Qur'an 35:39), but makes clear that this responsibility is not unconditional and states what happens to those who misuse their freedom of choice and fail to conform to the conditions that limit this responsibility: "then We reduce him (to the status of) the lowest of the low." (Qur'an 95:4,5) "…they are those whom Allah has rejected and whom He has condemned….because they served evil" (Qur'an 5:63). "…they have hearts wherewith they fail to comprehend, and eyes wherewith they fail to see, and ears wherewith they fail to hear….Such (humans) are far astray from the right path. (Qur'an 7:179).
There are…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. The Imam Hazrat Ali has this to say about (those who misuse their authority over the weak): "A savage and ferocious beast is better than a wicked and tyrant ruler." (Maxims, see Ref. No. 4, pp. 203, 381).
Again, the Qur'an Majeed urges in remonstrance: "And be not like those who say, 'we have heard', while they do not hearken. Verily, the vilest of all creatures, in the sight of Allah, are those deaf and dumb ones who do not use their rationality." (Qur'an 8:21,22).
[Top]
Animals Are Our Teachers
Muslims have often been advised by their mentors to learn lessons from some species of animal. For example, the Imam Hazrat Ali gives this piece of advice: "Be like a bee; anything he heats is clean, anything he drops is sweet and any branch he sits upon does not break." (Maxims of Ali; translated by Al-Halal from Nahj-ul-Balagha (in Arabic); Sh. Muhammad Ashraf, Lahore, Pakistan; p. 436. The Imam, Hazrat Ali bin Abi Talib was the son-in-law of the Holy Prophet Muhammad(s), and the fourth Caliph (644-656 A.C. = 23-24 A.H.).
[Top]
Animals Are Members of Communities and the Family of God
The Holy Prophet Muhammad(s) puts it in these words: "All creatures are like a family (Ayal) of God: and he loves the most those who are the most beneficent to His family. (Narrated by Anas. Mishkat al-Masabih,3:1392; quoted from Bukhari.)
The Qur'an Majeed says: "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).
The Holy Prophet(s) used to say: "Whoever is kind to the creatures of God, is kind to himself." (Wisdom of Prophet Mohammad(s); Muhammad Amin; The Lion Press, Lahore, Pakistan; 1945).
According to the learned commentators of the Qur'an Majeed….animals all live a life, individual and social, like members of a human commune. In other words, they are like 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 their apparent harmfulness."
The significant point to note is that, physically, man has been put in the same bracket as all other species. The following Hadith leaves no ambiguity in the scene in which the Qur'an Majeed uses the word 'community': Abu Huraira 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'. (Bukhari and Muslim).
The Islamic law (Shari'ah) 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. (La zarara wa la zirar).
[Top]
Human/Animal Communication
There are numerous legends about the Muslim saints and other holy men who could talk to animals. However, for lack of authentication, they are taken generally as mere fables. There is one statement in the Qur'an Majeed, though, which proves that man had acquired the lore of speech with animals as early as the time of King Solomon. Perhaps in those days human civilization was more in tune with nature than it is today. The Qur'anic verse runs like this: "And Solomon was David's heir, and he said: 'O ye people! We have been taught the speech of birds…" (Qur'an 27:16).
The Qur'an Majeed tells us that God actually communicates with animals, 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'an 16:68).
The Qur'an Majeed uses the same Arabic word "Wahi" for God's revelation to all His Prophets, including the Holy Prophet Muhammad(s), as it has been used in the case of the bee….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.
[Top]
Animals Have Consciousness
Many passages from the Qur'an Majeed and Ahadith state that all animals are endowed with spirit and mind and "…there is ample evidence in the Qur'an Majeed to suggest that animals' consciousness of spirit and mind is of a degree higher than mere instinct and intuition. We are told in the Qur'an Majeed that animals have a cognizance of their Creator and, hence, they pay their obeisance to Him by adoration and worship: Seest 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'an 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 this phenomenon: 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 do they declare His glory…(Qur'an 17:44).
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'an Majeed dwells on this theme repeatedly to emphasize 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'an 22:18).
A Dutch team of scientists has found scientific evidence of mental suffering in animals. They have discovered that, like the human brain, an animal's brain too releases a substance called 'Endorphin' to cope with emotional distress and pain, caused by frustration or conflict. This substance is 100 times more powerful than morphine. (This was reported in the newsletter of Compassion in World Farming Agscene, August 1985, 20 Lavant Street, Petersfield, Hants, England).
[Top]
Animals and Humans Must Share Natural Resources
Once it has been established that each species of animal 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.
But "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'an Majeed 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'an Majeed 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 labor: "And that man shall have nothing, but what he strives for." (Qur'an 53:39)
The Qur'an Majeed repeatedly emphasizes that food and other resources of nature are there to be shared equitably with other creatures. Below are just a few of 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….as Provision for you as well as for your cattle. (Qur'an 80:24-32).
Again, in the following verses, the bounties of nature are enumerated with the accent on animals' share in all of them. Everything was created for human AND non-human animals: And He it is Who sends the winds, as glad tidings heralding His mercy. And We send down pure water from the clouds, that We may give life thereby, by watering the parched earth, and slake the thirst of those We have created - both the animals and the human beings in multitude. (Qur'an 25-48,49).
And do they not see that We meander water to a barren land and sprout forth from it crops, whereof their cattle as well as they themselves eat? Will they take no notice of it? (Qur'an 32:27).
We {God} brought forth from it {the earth} its waters and its pastures, and established the mountains firm - as a source of provision for you and for your animals. (Qur'an 79:31-33).
There is no doubt that the message includes all animals, not just domestic livestock, in whose welfare we have a vested interest: There is no moving creature on earth, but Allah provides for its sustenance… (Qur'an 11:6)
And the earth: He {God} has assigned to all living creatures. (Qur'an 55:10).
The essence of Islamic teachings on 'Animal Rights' is that depriving animals of their fair share in the resources of nature is so serious a sin in the eyes of God that it is punishable by punitive retribution: The Qur'an Majeed describes how the people of Thamud demanded that the Prophet Saleh(s) show them some sign to prove he was a prophet of God. (The tribe of Thamud were the descendants of Noah. They have also been mentioned in the Ptolemaic records of Alexander's astronomer of the 2nd century A.C.)
At the time of this incident, the tribe was experiencing a dearth of food and water and was, therefore, neglecting its livestock. It was revealed to Prophet Saleh(s) to single out a she-camel as a symbol and ask his people to give her her fair share of water and fodder. The people of Thamud promised to do that but, later, killed the camel. As a retribution, the tribe was annihilated. This incident has been mentioned in the Qur'an Majeed many times in different contexts. (Qur'an 7:73, 11:64, 26:155, 156; 54:27-31).
[Top]
Is Animal Suffering Fate (Allah's Will) or the Fault of Humans?
Many people misunderstand the real sense of the doctrine of 'pre-destination', or 'fate' (Qaza wa Qadr or Qismat). The literal meaning of 'pre-destination', in the Islamic sense, is: 'pre-fixing the fate of someone or something', in the sense of determining the capacity, capability, endowment, function and other faculties. The Qur'an Majeed uses the Arabic word 'taqdir' meaning 'destiny' even for the decreed orbits of the planetary motions; 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.
[Top]
Experimentation on Animals
Scientific and pharmaceutical experiments on animals are being done to find cures for diseases, most of which are self-induced by our own disorderly lifestyle. All human problems - physical, mental or spiritual - are of our own creation and our wounds self-inflicted. By no stretch of imagination can we blame animals for any of our troubles and make them suffer for it. All this (experiments), and much more, is being done to satisfy human needs, most of which are non-essential, fanciful, wasteful and for which alternative, humane products are easily available. To kill animals to satisfy the human thirst for inessentials is a contradiction in terms within the Islamic tradition. Let us hope a day will dawn when the great religious teachings may at last begin to bear fruit; when we shall see the start of a new era, when man accords to animals the respect and status they have long deserved and for so long have been denied.
Vivisection did not exist at the time of the Holy Prophet Muhammad(s) and therefore, was not specifically cited in the law (Shari'ah). Guidance on such issues comes from analogy and inference (Ijtihad). One of the main excuses for all kinds of cruelties to animals is selfish interest or human needs. Let us see how the juristic Rules define 'needs' and 'interests' and judge these cases according to those definitions. The basic Juristic Rule (qaidatul-fiqhiyah) that would apply to pecuniary experiments is: "One's interest or need does not annul other's right" (al-idtiraru la yabtil haqqal-ghair).
Needs are classified in three categories: necessities (al-Masalih ad-darurfyah) without which life could not be sustained; needs required for comfort and easement from pain or any kind of distress, or for improving the quality of life (al-Masalih-al-haiya); and luxuries (al-Masalih at tahsiniyah) desirable for enjoyment or self-indulgence.
Some rules that can be applied to these needs to determine whether experiments on animals would be allowed: What allures to the forbidden, is itself forbidden. (Ma'ad'a ela al-harame, fahuwaharamun"). This rule implies that material gains, including food, obtained by wrongful acts, such as unnecessary experiments on animals, become unlawful (haram).
No damage can be put right by a similar or a greater damage." (Ad-dararu la yuzalu be mislehi au be dararin akbaro minho). When we damage our health and other interests by our own follies, we have no right to make the animals pay for it by inflicting similar or greater damage on them, such as by doing unnecessary experiments to find remedies for our self-induced ailments.
Resort to alternatives, when the original becomes undesirable. (Iza ta'zuro al-aslu, yusaru ila-l-badle). This rule places a great moral responsibility on experimenters and medical students to find alternatives.
The basic point to understand about using animals in science is that the same moral, ethical and legal codes should apply to the treatment of animals as are being applied to humans. According to Islam, all life is sacrosanct and has a right of protection and preservation.
The Holy Prophet Muhammad(s) laid so much emphasis on this point that he declared: "There is no man who kills {even} a sparrow or anything smaller, without its deserving it, but God will question him about it." (Narrated by Ibn 'Omar and by Abdallah bin Al-As. An-Nasai, 7:206,239, Beirut. Also recorded by Musnad al-Jami - Ad-Darimi; Delhi, 1337. Also, Mishkat al-Masabih; English translation by James Robson, in four volumes; Sh. Muhammad Ashraf, Lahore, Pakistan; 1963 (hereafter referred to as 'Robson').
He who takes pity {even} on a sparrow and spares its life, Allah will be merciful on him on the Day of Judgement. (Narrated by Abu Umama. Transmitted by Al-Tabarani).
Like all other laws of Islam, its laws on the treatment of animals have been left open to exceptions and are based on the criterion: "Actions shall be judged according to intention." (Al-A'amalo binniyah)….If the life of an animal can be saved only by the amputation of a part of its body, it will be a meritorious act in the eyes of God to do so.
There is no doubt that the Islamic prohibition against the cutting or injuring of live animals, especially when it results in pain and suffering, does apply to modern vivisection in science. We are able to support this interpretation of the Islamic teachings by referring not only to the above-quoted representative Traditions (Ahadith), but also to the Qur'an Majeed. In the verses quoted below, the principle is expressed that any interference with the body of a live animal which causes pain or disfigurement is contrary to the Islamic precepts. These verses were revealed in condemnation of the pagan superstitious custom that she-camels, ewes or nanny goats which had brought forth a certain number of young in a certain order should have their ears slit, be let loose, and dedicated to idols. Such customs were declared by the Qur'an Majeed as devilish acts, in these words: It was not Allah who instituted the practice of a slit-ear-she-camel, or a she-camel let loose for free pasture, or a nanny-goat let loose...""(Qur'an 5:106). "Allah cursed him {Satan} for having said: 'I shall entice a number of your servants, and lead them astray, and I shall arouse in them vain desires; and I shall instruct them to slit the ears of cattle; and most certainly, I shall bid them - so that they will corrupt Allah's creation'. Indeed! He who chooses the Devil rather than Allah as his patron, ruins himself manifestly. (Qur'an 4:118, 119).
[Top]
Fur and Other Uses of Animals
There is a large-scale carnage of fur-bearing animals….to satisfy human needs, most of which are non-essential, fanciful, wasteful and for which alternative, humane products are easily available….The excuse that such things are essential for human needs is no longer valid. Modern technology has produced all these things in synthetic materials and they are easily available all over the world, in some cases at a cheaper price.
Some juristic rules that apply are: "That which was made permissible for a reason, becomes unpermissible by the absence of that reason." (Ma jaza le uzrin, batala be zawalehi) and "All false excuses leading to damage should be repudiated." (Sadduz-zarae al-mua'ddiyate ela-l-fasad). These rules leave no excuse for the Muslims to remain complacent about the current killing of animals in their millions for their furs, tusks, oil, and various other commodities.
The Qur'an Majeed does mention animals as a source of warm clothing (Qur'an 16:5), but modern-day clothing made of synthetic fibers is just as warm as clothing made from animal skins and makes clothing from animal skins unnecessary. The Qur'an refers only to the skins and furs of domesticated cattle which either die their natural death or are slaughtered for food. Today, millions of wild animals are killed commercially just for their furs and skins, while their carcasses are left to rot. Fourteen centuries ago Islam realized the absurdity of this wasteful and cruel practice and passed laws to stop it in the following Ahadith:
The Holy Prophet Muhammad(s) prohibited the use of skins of wild animals. (Narrated by Abu Malik on the authority of his father. Abu Dawud and Tirmidhi as recorded in Garden of the Righteous - Riyad as-Salihin of Imam Nawawi; translated by M.Z. Kahn; Curzon Press, London, 1975; [hereafter referred to as Riyad]; Hadith No. 815, p. 160.)
The Holy Prophet Muhammad(s) forbade the skins of wild animals being used as floor-coverings. (id)
The Holy Prophet(s) said: 'Do not ride on saddles made of silk or leopard skins.' (Narrated by Mu'awiah. Abu Dawud; (see Riyad, Ref. No. 28); Hadith No. 814, p. 160.)
Animal Fights
All kinds of animal fights are strictly forbidden in Islam. Out of the numerous such injunctions, one would suffice here: God's Messenger(s) forbade inciting animals to fight each other. (Narrated by Abdullah bin Abbas. Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmidhi and Abu al-Darda; recorded in Riyad (Ref. No. 28); Hadith No. 1606; p. 271. Also 'Robson' (Ref. No. 15), p. 876.)
Like camel-humps, fat-tails of sheep and target-animals (mujaththema), the meat of animals who die as a result of fights is also declared in Islam as unlawful to eat (haram). For example, the Spaniards hold fiestas on special occasions to eat the bull killed by a matador.
salam
