e. The Metaphysics of the Animal Mind
f. Rights in the Resources of Nature
Human Needs and Interests (Al-Maṣāliḥ)
Factory-Farming
General Reforms of Islam
The Moral Appeal of Islam
Beasts of Burden
Mental Cruelty
Slaughter of Food Animals
Conclusion
References and Notes
Chapter Two: Vegetarianism v/s Meatarianism
Preamble
The Dialectics of Diet and Health
The Importance of Vitamins
The Anatomy of Man
The Economics of Food
Confucianism
Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism
Christianity
Judaism and Islam
References and Notes
Chapter Three: Animal Sacrifice
Preamble
The Ancient Orient
Confucianism
Hinduism
Jainism
Buddhism
Christianity
Judaism
The Biblical Concept of God
Concepts of God
Atonement
The Judaic Theology of Sacrifice
The Cultus of Sacrifice
Biblical Condemnation of Sacrifice
The Rabbinship (Priesthood)
The Meaning of Sacrifice
War – Living Graves
Islam
The Prelude to Islamic Sacrifice
The Islamic Theology of Sacrifice
Sacrifice as Charity and Alternative Offerings
Sacrifice by Proxy
The Three Kinds of Sacrifices
Appendix A
References and Notes
Chapter Four: Ḥalāl Meat – the Bone of Contention
Preamble
Lawful and Unlawful Meat
The Qur’ānic Dietary Ordinances
Food of the “People of The Book”
The Paradoxical Enigma of Pork
Is Jewish Food Ḥalāl?
Blood
The Invocation of God’s Name (Tasmiyah and Takbīr)
The Relative Significance of Bleeding and the Invocation of God’s Name
References and Notes
Index
QUITE A FEW of my friends have been surprised to learn that I have chosen ‘Animals’ as a subject to write on from the Islamic point of view. They feel that I should be more concerned with other multifarious problems which Muslims are facing these days and for which they need help and guidance in solving. The way I look at it, however, is that life on this earth is so inextricably intertwined as an homogeneous unit that it cannot be disentangled for the amelioration of one species at the expense of another.
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.
There is no paucity of Muslim scholars and theologians who are far more qualified than me to expound theologically all sorts of such problems. Notwithstanding this, I feel that my practical experience of a lifetime in the field of animal welfare, combined with some theological knowledge, lays a moral responsibility on me to express my views candidly on the current spate of cruelties to animals. The learned theologians generally remain blissfully uninformed on this subject, which is generally beyond the pale of their normal responsibilities. Similarly, the general Muslim public is not fully aware of the scale on which pecuniary, selfish and short-sighted human interests have started exploiting the animal kingdom and are playing havoc with the ecological balance.
The most alarming and distressing predicament of this deplorable state of affairs is that our Islamic countries too have started treading in the footsteps of the West in the name of commerce and trade. No doubt we have a lot to learn from Western technology and science, but surely animal welfare and environmental conservation is not one of these subjects.
The Islamic instruction and guidance on animal rights and man’s obligations concerning them are so comprehensive that we need not go elsewhere for any guidance. As believers in the consummate and conclusive revelation of God, we are expected to learn from the misconceptions of the past and cast behind us the parochial approach to religion. Fourteen centuries is a long enough period to grasp mentally the fact that the way (Dīn) to spiritual development does not lie in ritualistic observance and the hair-splitting of the Law (Sharīʿah). Surely it is a long enough period to liberate ourselves from the pre-Islamic traits of our respective cultures.
Not to be cruel or even to be condescendingly kind to the so-called inferior animals is a negative proposition. Islam wants us to think and act in the positive terms of accepting all species as communities like us in their own right and not to sit in judgement on them according to our human norms and values.
I hope and pray that my Muslim brethren will fully appreciate the points I have touched upon here, after reading this book.
Although