News
The Fatwa for Animals
August 15, 2008, 11:30AM MT
By George C DeGiovanni
In a new translation
In a new translation
In May, Kristen Stilt, Associate Professor of Law and History, at Northwestern University, who is an Arabic Scholar, translated into English a Fatwa that is of great significance for the animals in Islamic countries.
The Fatwa was issued by Dr. Muhammad Sayyid Tantawy, the Shaikh of Azhar, one of Islam’s most revered institutions, in response to an inquiry from Ahmed El Sherbiny, Chairperson of the Egyptian Society of Animal Friends, as to the position of animals in Islam.
The response indicates clearly that the teachings of Islam require kindness to animals. This Fatwa, as it becomes known throughout Islamic countries is expected to have a positive impact on the treatment of animals.
An English translation was provided earlier. However, Kristen Stilt’s translation is both clear and very readable.
Congratulations to Ahmed El Sherbiny for this important step in paving the way for the improved treatment of animals in a number of countries.
This is the text of the Fatwa:
Shaikh Tantawi's reply to Ahmed el-Sherbiny
In the Name of God, Most Compassionate and Most Merciful
Thanks be to God, and prayers and peace upon the noblest of God's
messengers, Muhammad b. Abdullah, and God' prayers be upon Him, His family, His companions, upon whomever has followed them to the Day of Judgment, and upon all of the Prophetic Messengers.
Mr. Ahmed el-Sherbiny, lawyer before the Court of Cassation and
Chairman of the Egyptian Society for Animal Friends, has presented a
letter that includes a request for a legal opinion on two matters.
The first matter deals with those people who torture an animal at its
slaughter by committing acts that are contradictory with treatment
with mercy. The second matter deals with long-distance transport of
animals from one country to another by means that do not provide for
the animal's safety or its kind treatment, in the method described in
detail in the letter.
First:
Islamic law requires that the animal at the time of its slaughter
must be treated with kindness and with procedures that guarantee to
it mercy. All of this is covered by the beneficence that the Prophet
(God's peace and blessings upon Him) ordered in his authenticated
saying: "God has ordered beneficence in everything, so if you kill,
be as kind as possible in the killing, and if you slaughter, be as
kind as possible in the slaughtering. One of you should sharpen your
knife and one should make the animal be slaughtered comfortable."
(Related by Muslim). This saying of the Prophet proves that slaughter
must be done with kindness and mercy to the animal, and is part of
the meaning conveyed by the required beneficence pronounced in the
saying.
Kindness and mercy to the animal is also understood from the
requirement of sharpness of the knife that will be used in the
slaughter, so that the animal is not pained by slaughter with a dull
instrument. This is also what He (God's peace and blessings upon Him) clearly shows in His saying "one should make the animal comfortable." Fulfilling this order requires doing everything that makes the animal comfortable at the time of slaughter.
Many authenticated sayings of the Prophet show the prohibition on
undertaking to sharpen or hone the instrument of slaughter in front
of the animal to be slaughtered. The Prophet (God's peace and
blessings upon Him) saw a man sharpening his knife in front of the
animal that was going to be slaughtered, and the Prophet forbade
that, and said to the man: "Do you want to slaughter the animal
twice-once by sharpening the knife in front of the animal, and the
second time by cutting its throat?"
Imam Ali (May God be pleased with him) also forbade slaughtering a
sheep in front of the other sheep or any other animal, so that the
animal's perceptions are not harmed at the last moment of its life.
All of this proof clearly shows that any action incompatible with
kindness to animals or treating them any way other than with mercy at
the time of slaughter-such as in the manners mentioned in detail in
the question-is a forbidden and sinful act, and is inconsistent with
the kindness to animals that Islam requires. This is the answer to
the first question.
Second:
With regard to the second question, we advise that Islam's call for
kindness to animals and for treating them with mercy applies to all
of the situations in which this mercy is necessary. This includes
transporting animals. The transport must be done in a way that is
comfortable and that ensures the animal's safety. The means of
transport must protect against the causing of pain to the animal,
threat to the life of the animal, or affliction of the animal with
diseases contagious to humans or others. This rule is inferred from
the saying of the Prophet, God's peace and blessings upon Him, that
"Humans have the chance to perform a charitable act in their
treatment of every living being." And also in His saying, Peace be
upon Him: "A woman went to hell because of a cat that she had
confined without leaving it any food, or allowing the cat access to
bugs or fruits of the earth to eat." These two sayings of the
Prophet, and others like them, show that the treatment of animals
must be based upon the principle of mercy in every situation,
including in the transport of them from one place to another.
Causing pain to the animal during transport as described in the
letter is considered an action prohibited and forbidden in Islamic
law, assuming, of course, that the situation is as described in the
question.
God knows best and is most supreme.
Chief Imam and Shaikh of al-Azhar
Dr. Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi
signed April 24, 2008
Thanks to Kim Bartlett, President of Animal People, for passing this on to Best Friends.
Posted by Sharon St. Joan, Best Friends Network
Photo: © John Manning/ Dreamstime.com
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