Guest Author - Serkan Tufan

Prophet Muhammad was sent to all humankind as a comforter, guidance, messenger of glad tidings from God, and a cautioner as the Allah in Quran states: :

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim

We have not sent thee but as a (Messenger) to all mankind, giving them glad tidings, and warning them (against sin), but most men know not. Chapter Sebe 28

O Prophet! Truly We have sent thee as a Witness, a Bearer of Glad Tidings, and Warner,- Chapter Ahzab 46

In his own words, Rasulullah (Messenger of Allah) would say:
"I was sent to people as a mercy, not to curse them." (Muslim, "Birr," 87).

His mercy and compassion was so deep that animals, even plants would benefit from His existence as their guardian. One day, He told his companion the story of two women: " A prostitute was guided by God's truth and ultimately went to paradise because she gave water to a dog dying of thirst in the desert" (Bukhari, "Anbiya'," 54; Muslim, "Salam," 153). And for the other women, Allah's Apostle said, "A woman was tortured and was put in Hell because of a cat which she had kept locked till it died of hunger." Allah's Apostle further said, (Allah knows better) Allah said (to the woman), 'You neither fed it nor watered when you locked it up, nor did you set it free to eat the insects of the earth." Bukhari, Volume 3, Book 40, Number 553

Another day, on the way to return home from a battle, Narrated Abdullah ibn Mas'ud:
We were with the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) during a journey. He went to ease himself. We saw a bird with her two young ones and we captured her young ones. The bird came and began to spread its wings. The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) came and said: Who grieved this for its young ones? Return its young ones to it. He also saw an ant village that we had burnt. He asked: Who has burnt this? We replied: We. He said: It is not proper to punish with fire except the Lord of fire.

Narrated AbdurRahman ibn Uthman:
When a physician consulted the Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) about putting frogs in medicine, he forbade him to kill them.
Ibni Abbas narrates: We were on our way with Prophet Muhammad when we saw a man who tied his sheep up to slaughter it. Yet, he was sharpening his knife in front of the animal. Prophet Muhammad scolded the man: Do you want to kill him plenty of times? (Mustadrak,, 4/231, 233)

(In Islam tradition, there are rigid procedures for slaughtering, mostly for the aim of hygiene and not to cause any pain to animal. First, an animal can only be slaughtered by God’s permission And for only His sake, that is, by reciting God’s names during the slaughter meaning we are His servants and not real owners or decision makers above anything, People first help the animal lay down in dignity with gently fondling it. A very sharp, plain edge knife is used to cut through throat in one second while the eyes of animal closed with a cloth in advance, so that he will not suffer from any psychological and physiological pain. The blood is completely drained from the main vessel to prevent any deterioration and microbes caused by dirty and old blood.

I’d like to caution about the modern serial slaughtering techniques most slaughtering places uses; first all the animals are given a painful shock or stun by a hammer on the head, then altogether hung upside down and cut on the throat in groups, causing a huge stress, fear and pain on the animals, moreover, after cutting loosely, dirty blood often let stay in, causing many bacteria and microbes to grow in the tissues).

Abdullah bin Cafer narrates:
Prophet Muhammad visited a garden with his friends. In the corner was a very thin, weak and tired camel. As soon as the camel saw Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), it burst into tears. The Noble Messenger immediately went to see it, stayed with it for a while, then he called on the owner of the garden and he scolded him and wanted him to take good care of the animal. (Suyuti, el-Hasaisu’l Kubra, 2/95; Heysemi, Mecmeu’z Zevaid, 9/9)

He, as an astounding message from God, embraced the humankind with a love that includes the all humanity and existences. Here, we see how His compassion goes beyond humanism as He taught us respect for all creation in the universe as God created it with the perfection of ecological balance, art, and wisdom. He modeled how animal rights are actually performed more than 1400 years ago. Let’s remember the Quran verses again:

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim

We have not sent thee but as a (Messenger) to all mankind, giving them glad tidings, and warning them (against sin), but most men know not. Chapter Sebe 28

O Prophet! Truly We have sent thee as a Witness, a Bearer of Glad Tidings, and Warner,- Chapter Ahzab 46