Allah loves every one of the creatures. He has made, and therefore the principals of mercy and compassion are to be extended to every living creature. All creatures are Allah’s children and those dearest to Allah are those who treat his children kindly.
Cruelty to animals is totally forbidden in Islam. This ruling applies in any country and in every circumstance particularly where animals are used to work for humans, or to provide dairy produce or their flesh to eat. It applies particularly to the method of killing animals where their flesh is required for our tables. Muslims are required by Allah to:-
“Feed for the love of Allah, the indigent, the orphan and the captive, (saying)‘we feed you for the sake of Allah alone; no reward do we desire from you, nor thanks.’ (76:8-9)
In this passage, many scholars include the dumb animals that are under subjection to humanity in the category of ‘captive’, these animals must be properly fed, housed and looked after, and the righteous person does not forget them. Beasts of burden should never carry or pull loads too heavy, and it is totally against the spirit of Islam to allow horses, donkeys, bullocks or any other animal used to drag carriages or carts too heavy for them, to labour until they are exhausted, or until their flesh has raw patches and sores.
Kindness also requires that the manes and tails of horses are left in their natural condition. Prophet said that do not cut the tails forelock, manes or tails of horses, for their tails are their means of driving flies away, their manes provide them with warmth, and blessing is tied to their forelock. Animals should be kept in as natural state as possible, and therefore the castration of male animals is regarded s a cruel and unnatural practice and forbidden.
HUNTING
Islam teaches that a person should never hunt just for sport, but may only take the life of animal for food or other useful purpose. If someone kills a sparrow for sport, the sparrow will cry out o the Day of Judgment, ‘O Lord! That person killed me for nothing! He did not kill me for any useful purpose! ’Whoever kills anything bigger then a sparrow without a just cause, Allah will hold him accountable for it. The listener asked, ‘O’ Messenger of Allah, what is just cause? He replied, ‘He kills to eat, not to simply chop off its head and then throw it away’. If a creature can be tamed or controlled by humans so that it may be properly slaughtered in due course, it is forbidden to hunt it.
When an animal or bird (such as hawk or a dog) is a natural predator, it cannot be blamed for doing what comes naturally to it, since Allah has created the instinct in the creature. The deliberate cruelty is never to be encouraged. All hunting should only be for food, and any animal used for hunting should be very well trained, always under control, and not clumsy or savage. The criteria for a trained animal are that when it is called, it responds, when commanded it hunts, and when restrained it stops immediately. The dog or hawk must not eat the hunted creature itself.
If you send your dog after the game, and it eats part of it, you should not eat it, for the dog has hunted the game itself and not for you; but if kills without eating it, you can eat it as it has caught it for its master (Bhukhari & Muslim). If possible one should reach the hunted beast while there is still life in it, and slaughter it, and slaughter in the halal way. When you set your dog (for the chase), mention the name of Allah. If he catches the game and you reach it while it is still alive, cut its throat. If a animal is hunted with a weapon, the weapon should not be cruel( like a club for bludgeoning), but efficient such as spear, sword or bullet (would pierce the animal) and not such as would club it or throttle it. Throwing stones at or clubbing a wounded animal is totally forbidden.
“Forbidden to you are the flesh of that which has died a natural death, and that which has been killed by strangling or beating or by falling or by being gored, and that which has been (partially) eaten by a wild beast expect that which you make lawful by slaughtering (before his death)…(5:4). This prohibition reveals Allah’s kindness to animals in several ways. It shows concern for human beings, that they do not harm themselves by eating meat from an animal that might have died from eating something poisonous itself, or that was diseased; it shows concern for other wild animals and birds that are flesh eaters, since the carcasses of animals left lying are a source of food and are devoured by them; and it encourages humans to look after animal and see to it that they do not die of disease and malnutrition and if an animal in their charge becomes diseased, either a cure will be sought for it, or it will be humanely slaughtered.
BLOOD SPORT
The Blessed Prophet forbade any so called ‘sport’ which involved goading animals into fighting each other a common enough practice in his time. By the same principle, all modern existing blood sports such fox-hunting, big game hunting, badger, bear or dog-baiting, or fights to the death between cockerels, are also condemned.
THE LUXURY TRADE
The idea of humans clubbing baby seals in order to get their fur for luxury garments is abhorrent to a Muslim. Any destruction of animal life simply to satisfy the desires of wealthy cannot be approved of, however, the beloved Prophet did not approve of deliberate waste. If an animal died, the prohibition was only against eating of flesh. Proper use should be made of its skin, horns, bones and hair.
Ibn Abbas recorded: The freed maid servant of the Prophet’s wife Maymunah was given a sheep and it died. The Prophet passed by its carcass and said: ‘Why did you not take its skin to be tanned and use it? They replied: ‘But it is dead.’ The Prophet said ‘What is prohibited is eating it’.
FACTORY FARMING
Farming in itself is perfectly allowable, and a good way of caring for animals. But sadly some modern methods of farming have become extremely unnatural and cruel, and deprive the animals of all enjoyment of life. Keeping livestock in cramped and dark conditions and force-feeding them unnatural food in order to make them grow so quickly that their natural life is unreasonably shortened are forbidden. Millions of ‘battery- farmed’ chickens have a life of no more then from egg to table and can hardly stand because their body weight has been artificially increased.
Raising larger livestock in closely confined spaces, also forbidden. This applies to the ‘battery’ methods of growing calves and pigs for the table and any other kind of animal those are not given enough room to turn around. Any slaughter of farm animals should be done with sensitivity and not in conditions that cause panic, pain and distress to the animals.
ANIMALS IN CONFINEMENT
Some animals are kept in appalling conditions either for factory-farming purposes, or in zoos. It’s against the spirit of Islam to keep any animal tied up, in dirty conditions or confined in a small space just for human convenience. The Prophet once made his companions free two little captive birds. Muslims believe that humans who treat animals and birds in a cruel manner will be answerable for their actions on the Day of Judgment.
ANIMAL EXPERIMENT AND VIVISECTION
It has been commonplace in our modern world for various experiments to be tried out on animals for all sorts of reasons. Some of these are genuinely beneficial to humanity, and involve progress in medicine and medical welfare. Others are for cosmetic purposes, or involve testing reactions to various substances, even to cigarettes. Following the principle of compassion and kindness towards all Allah’s creations, any experimentation simply for reasons of luxury goods or vanity, are totally forbidden. Muslims should inquire carefully if the products they buy have been produced by halal methods, in other words, without inflicting any cruelty on any other living thing.
In he matter of medical progress, if there was no possible alternative to an experiment on an animal then a Muslim might accept the argument of necessity for the experiment; but it would be far preferable to look for some other method of investigation. Experiments should never be attempted lightly or without very good reason.
BRANDING
When domestic animals have to be branded to show ownership it obviously causes pain; the blessed Prophet forbade the branding of any part of their body except the hind quarters. “Do no brand any animal except on the part of its body furthest from its face.”(Hadith)
PROPHET’S KINDNESS TOWARDS CATS
There are numerous stories recounting the Prophets kindness to animals, especially cats. A famous one involves a cat that had given birth to kittens on his cloack. Rather then disturb them Prophet took a knife and cut round them a generous part of his cloack as their blanket. Nafi and Ibn Umar recorded that: A woman was punished because she has kept a cat tied up until it died, and she was thrown into Hell. She had not provided with food or drink and had not freed her so that she could eat the insects of earth. (Muslim 5570 &6346).
Prophet regarded the cats that lived alongside humans as part of the family. He even used the water they had sipping for his ablutions without regarding as unclean.
DOGS
Muslims regard dogs as an animal whose saliva breaks wudu (ablution) for prayer. There are certain hadiths which suggests that the black dog was particularly associated with evil and satan, and that dogs should not be kept in the house. Angels do not enter a house in which there is a dog or a statue. (Muslim 5230). The Prophet at one time did sanction the killing of dogs but this was not an indiscriminate destroying of dogs as a species but the pruning of stray dogs and those which were infected with rabies and other dangerous diseases.
Many Muslims keep dogs for herding and protection, and respect them as hard-working and devoted loyal animals, and there is mention of the permissibility of hunting with the dog in the Qur’an. The Prophet ordered the killing of dogs and then afterwards said: ‘Why are people killing them? He granted permission to keep the dog for hunting and for security of the herd and said: ‘ If your dog licks your utensil wash it seven times and rub it with earth the eighth time.’(Abu Dawud 74). Following two stories are representative of the attitude of the Prophet toward the animal despised by some people.
Once during a severe famine a student of religion saw a dog lying on the ground so weak that it could not even move. The student felt pity and immediately sold his books and bought food to give to the dog. That very moment he heard a voice ‘You need not work so hard to acquire religious knowledge, my son. We have bestowed knowledge upon you.’(The Muslim story- The Muslim voice, jan 1990). Once, while a man was going his way felt thirsty. He found a well and went down in it, drank water and came out. Suddenly he noticed a dog panting and dying of thirst. He went down again into well, filled his leather socks with water and came up and gave water to the dog,. Allah liked his action and forgave him (Abu Dawud 2544)
MISCELLANEOUS
There is a hadith recording the Prophet’s anger when someone who got stung by an ant in vengeance wiped out the whole colony. Prophet once became very angry when he saw some people who had tied up a hen and were shooting arrows at it for fun. Prophet promptly forbade tying up animals and making target of them. Prophet rebuked his wife Aishah who had mounted a wild camel and was making it spin round and round.
HALAL SLAUGHTER
Muslims may not eat any sort of meat, unless it has been killed in the quickest and most painless manner, and with prayer in the name of Allah. ‘O ’believers! Eat of the good things that we have provided for you, and be grateful to Allah, if it is Him you worship. He has only forbidden you carrion meat and blood and the flesh of pigs, and that on which any name other than the name of Allah has been invoked.’(2:173;5:3)
Shaddad b. Aus has recorded “Truly Allah has commanded goodness in everything; so when you kill, kill in a good way, and when you slaughter, slaughter in a good way. Every one of you should make his knife sharp and let the slaughtered animal die comfortably. (Muslim 4810). There is growing trend towards vegetarianism among Muslims but this is purely a matter of individual conscience. It is not compulsory to eat meet to be a good Muslim.
Muslim do not agree with the methods of slaughter common in the west, in which animals are supposed to be stunned electrically before slaughter. The stunning often kills them. They maintain that to cut the throat with a very sharp knife is the least painful method and not electrocution. The slaughtering is done by either cutting the throat or by piercing the hollow of the throat. The best way is to cut the windpipe, the gullet, and the two jugular veins.
When Muslim kills an animal they have to observe certain rules. The knife that will kill the beast is never to be sharpened in front of it. The creature is to go to its death in a kind atmosphere, well fed and watered, not in the slaughterhouse ambiance of torture and terror. Islam prohibits slaughter of one animal in front of another for the same reason. Animal should be killed quickly while the prayer is being said.
Some Muslims refuse to eat any meat unless they know for certain that it is halal, but it would seem from the Prophet’s recommendation that this is an extremist attitude. Aishah recorded that the Prophet was once told that people bring us meat and we do not know whether they have mentioned the name of Allah over it or not. Shall we eat it or not? The Holy Prophet replied ‘Mention the name of Allah and eat’.(Bhukhari).
By
Col MZU Siddiquie,SM
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