Rights and Duties Pertaining to Kept Animals

Throughout our history, humans have kept animals for
a variety of purposes and benefits. Livestock animals are
kept for their meat, hair, wool, and labor. Working animals
are kept to perform tasks, such as drawing carts or plows, and for
hunting or guarding. Lab animals are kept for experimentation and
testing. Pets are kept for companionship and protection. Animals
are a part of our everyday lives and environment. Even individuals
who do not themselves keep animals experience the beneficial
and harmful consequences of kept animals. For example, intensive
animal farming has been developed to meet the demand for meat.
Numerous criticisms have been raised regarding the treatment and
welfare of the animals kept at these farms, and the detrimental
impacts this type of farming has on the environment. So our relationship
to animals and how we treat them should be of concern to
each individual human.
Muslims should be even more concerned since animals and
their treatment are mentioned in Islam’s primary textual sources
(the Qur’an and hadith), and developed even further in commentaries
and in legal and moral literature. The Qur’an and hadith
indicate that Allah has granted humankind dominion over animals.
The limitations of this dominion are clarified through numerous
injunctions concerning animals. These injunctions form part of the
evidence that Muslim scholars used when discussing the legal and
ethical rulings related to kept animals. Scholars note that humans
must treat animals with mercy and kindness, and avoid harming
or annoying them. As a general rule, humans cannot kill animals
except in a narrow range of exceptional cases, such as for their meat
1