A Dutch team of scientists has found scientific evidence of mental suffering in animals. They
have discovered that, like the human brain, an animal's brain too releases a substance called
'Endorphin' to cope with emotional distress and pain, caused by frustration or conflict. This
substance is 100 times more powerful than morphine. (This was reported in the newsletter of
Compassion in World Farming Agscene, August 1985, 20 Lavant Street, Petersfield, Hants,
England.)
Animals and Humans Must Share Natural Resources
Once it has been established that each species of animal is a "community" like the human
community, it stands to reason that each and every creature on earth has, as its birthright, a
share in all the natural resources. In other words, each animal is a tenant-in-common on this
Planet with human species.
But "Man has always been in competition with animals for food, and the problem has been
aggravated in the current world situation, especially because of modern agrarian
mismanagement." The Qur'an Majeed has tried to allay this fear of man by reassuring him that
God is not only the Creator but also the Sustainer and the Nourisher of all that He creates.
However, the Qur'an Majeed lays down the condition that human beings, like all other creatures,
shall have to work for their food, and that their share would be proportionate to their labor: "And
that man shall have nothing, but what he strives for" (Qur'an 53:39).
The Qur'an Majeed repeatedly emphasizes that food and other resources of nature are there to
be shared equitably with other creatures. Below are just a few of numerous such verses:
Then let man look at his food: how We pour out water in showers, then turn up the earth
into furrow-slices and cause cereals to grow therein — grapes and green fodder; olive-
trees and palm-trees; and luxuriant orchards, fruits and grasses...as Provision for you as
well as for your cattle. (Qur'an 80:24-32)
Again, in the following verses, the bounties of nature are enumerated with the accent on
animals' share in all of them. Everything was created for human AND non-human animals:
And He it is Who sends the winds, as glad tidings heralding His mercy. And We send
down pure water from the clouds, that We may give life thereby, by watering the parched
earth, and slake the thirst of those We have created — both the animals and the human
beings in multitude. (Qur'an 25-48,49)
And do they not see that We meander water to a barren land and sprout forth from it
crops, whereof their cattle as well as they themselves eat? Will they take no notice of it?
(Qur'an 32:27)
We {God} brought forth from it {the earth} its waters and its pastures, and established
the mountains firm —as a source of provision for you and for your animals. (Qur'an
79:31-33)
There is no doubt that the message includes all animals, not just domestic livestock, in whose
welfare we have a vested interest:
There is no moving creature on earth, but Allah provides for its sustenance…. (Qur'an
11:6)
And the earth: He {God} has assigned to all living creatures. (Qur'an 55:10)
The essence of Islamic teachings on "Animal Rights" is that depriving animals of their fair share
in the resources of nature is so serious a sin in the eyes of God that it is punishable by punitive
retribution: The Qur'an Majeed describes how the people of Thamud demanded that the
Prophet Saleh show them some sign to prove he was a prophet of God. (The tribe of Thamud
were the descendants of Noah. They have also been mentioned in the Ptolemaic records of
Alexander's astronomer of the 2nd century A.C.)
At the time of this incident, the tribe was experiencing a dearth of food and water and was,
therefore, neglecting its livestock. It was revealed to Prophet Saleh to single out a she-camel as
a symbol and ask his people to give her her fair share of water and fodder. The people of
Thamud promised to do that but, later, killed the camel. As a retribution, the tribe was
annihilated. This incident has been mentioned in the Qur'an Majeed many times in different
contexts (Qur'an 7:73, 11:64, 26:155, 156; 54:27-31).
Is Animal Suffering Fate (Allah's Will) or the Fault of Humans?
Many people misunderstand the real sense of the doctrine of "predestination," or "fate" (Qaza
wa Qadr or Qismat). The literal meaning of "predestination," in the Islamic sense, is: "pre-fixing
the fate of someone or something," in the sense of determining the capacity, capability,
endowment, function and other faculties. The Qur'an Majeed uses the Arabic word "taqdir"
meaning "destiny" even for the decreed orbits of the planetary motions; for inorganic
substances; as well as for animated creatures, including human beings. Within those pre-fixed
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