Animal Rights in Islamic Perspective

Prophet Peace Be upon Him - Love for Animals

Once, when the Prophet Peace be upon him was on a journey with his companions, he stopped over to answer the call of nature. Meanwhile, some of his companions noticed a redstart bird with two chicks. He took the chicks away. The bird came and began to circle around them flapping its wings. When the Prophet ~ came and saw the scene, he turned to his companions and said, "Who distressed the bird by taking its chicks from it? Return the chicks to the bird!"

With animals

On a different occasion, the Prophet! Ii noticed a burnt ants' nest. "Who burnt the nest?" he demanded. One of his companions replied, "I did." The Prophet Peace be upon Him became angry and said, "No one but Allah punishes with fire!" The Prophet PEACE BE UPON HIM was so merciful that if he saw a cat whilst he was performing ablution, he would lower the utensil down for the cat to drink from and then perform ablution from the leftover water.

Once he passed by a man who had laid a sheep on the ground and placed his foot on its neck to slaughter it while sharpening the knife as the sheep looked on. The Prophet PEACE BE UPON HIM became angry upon seeing this and said, "Do you want it to die twice? Why didn't you sharpen your knife before you laid it on the ground?"

On another occasion, he passed by two men in the middle of a conversation and each of them was sitting on his camel. When he saw this, he felt pity for the camels and therefore forbade people from using animals as chairs, meaning that one is not to mount  it except when required and that when the need is fulfilled, one should dismount and allow it to rest. The Prophet PEACE BE UPON HIM also forbade branding an animal on its face.

A story is related of the Prophet ~ and his camel called al' Adhba: Once a group of pagans attacked some camels belonging to the Muslims on the outskirts of Madinah. They took away all the camels including al-'Adhba, as well as a Muslim woman. Whenever they stopped over on their way, they let the camels loose so they could pasture. When they stopped over at a certain place and fell asleep, the woman got up in order to escape. She went to the camels so as to mount one of them. Each time she went near a camel, it made a noise, causing her to avoid approaching it lest the pagans woke up. She kept approaching the camels one by one until she came to al-'Adhba and moved it to discover that it was docile and well-trained. She then mounted the camel and made her way back to Madinah. When she felt safe, she was overcome with joy and said,"0 Allah, I vow to you that if you save me by means of this camel, I would sacrifice it for you!"

When the woman reached Madinah, the people recognized the Prophet's camel. The woman then went home and the people brought the camel to the Prophet PEACE BE UPON HIM. Later, the woman came and asked for the camel so that she could slaughter it. The Prophet PEACE BE UPON HIM  said, "How evil is the reward you give it! Allah saved you on it and now you want to slaughter it!"

The Prophet PEACE BE UPON HIM then said, "A vow is not valid if it is in disobedience to Allah, or with that which one does not own."

The Prophet PEACE BE UPON HIM would give Friday sermons resting his back on an erect trunk of a date-palm tree in his mosque. A woman from the Ansaar said, "0 Messenger of Allah, shall I not make something for you to sit on? I have a servant who is a carpenter, The Prophet PEACE BE UPON HIM said, "If you wish." The woman made a pulpit for him. The next Friday, the Prophet PEACE BE UPON HIM climbed the pulpit she had made, and as he sat on it, the tree-trunk behind him mooed like a bull screamed as if it was about to split in half. The mosque shook. The Prophet PEACE BE UPON HIM descended from the pulpit and embraced the trunk and it wailed like a child. Thereupon the Prophet PEACE BE UPON HIM said, "I swear by the One who has Muhammad's soul in His Hand, were it not that I embraced it, it would have continued crying until the Day of Resurrection."