Animal welfare in Islam

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Animal welfare in Islam refer to the rights on how animals should be treated by fellow human beings in accordance to the Islamic teachings. Islam teaches human beings to respect animals and to not harm them for no apparent reason, as they are part of God's creation. However, certain animals can be eaten but under the condition that they are slaughtered so as to drain the blood out of the body before eating. For example, Muslims are not allowed to capture baby birds, burn ant hills and whip animals cruelly - as a matter doing them "for fun".^[1] Furthermore, a person who hunts down a rabbit for target practise is deemed to be punished in accordance to Islamic ruling. ^[2]

According to the Muslims, since that God has created humans have been created with a superior intellect than animals, we have the special responsibility to be fair, just and kind to all other livings. ^[1] Muhammad once said that "Every injustice will be paid back on the Day of Judgment, even if one goat hits another with its horns it will be taken account of. Therefore, in our use of animals for our own survival we must do justice." ^[1]

The Sharia court can imply rules on the humane treatment of animals based on the following quotations^[3]:

• As narrated in the hadith, ?Abd-Allah ibn ?Umar stated that Muhammad said: ?A woman was punished for a cat which she imprisoned until it died, and she entered Hell because of that. She did not feed it or give it water when she imprisoned it, and she did not leave it free to eat of the vermin of the earth.? (Narrated by Al-Bukhari, Template:Bukhari; Muslim, Template:Muslim). In addition, Al-Nawawi said: the apparent meaning of the hadeeth is that she went to Hell only because of this sin."

• Futhermore Ibn ?Umar stated that he entered upon Yahyaa ibn Sa?eed and saw that one of Yahyaa?s sons had tied up a hen and was shooting at it. Ibn ?Umar walked over to him and untied it, then he brought it to him and the boy and said, ?Do not allow your boys to tie up birds in order to kill them, for I heard the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) forbidding the tying up of animals or other creatures in order to kill them.?'

• Muhammad said: ?Do not use anything in which there is a soul as a target.? (Narrated by Muslim, 1957).

Instead, the owner of the animals must feed and not to be over-worked (e.g. when the animals are used for farming). ^[1]

Contents 1 Animal as food 2 See also 3 References 3.1 References

Animal as food

See Halal meat

See also

• Animal rights
• Animal welfare
• Muhammad's attitude towards animals

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} http://www.islamicedfoundation.com/askscholar/animal.htm
2. ^ http://www.islamonline.com/cgi-bin/news_service/fatwah_story.asp?service_id=539
3. ^ http://www.islamonline.com/cgi-bin/news_service/fatwah_story.asp?service_id=539

Additional work on this article is appreciated.

References

• Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Animal_welfare_in_Islam" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_welfare_in_Islam, used under the GNU Free Documentation License