Being Kind to Animals Is Islamic
“Whoever is kind to the creatures of God, is kind to himself.” – The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), narrated by Abdullah bin Amru in Bukhari and Muslim collections
Islam promotes peace, dignity, respect, tolerance, justice, and mercy. The sacred texts consider animals an important part of God’s creations, and the Prophet Mohammad’s (pbuh) concern for animals is clear throughout the Hadith and Sunnah. For example, the Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) chastised those who mistreated animals and praised those who were kind to them. He also prohibited beating and branding animals.
One Hadith quotes Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) as saying,
“A good deed done to an animal is as meritorious as a good deed done to a human being, while an act of cruelty to an animal is as bad as an act of cruelty to a human being.”
Let Vegan Actor Sadaa Sayed Motivate You
Like many children, when Sadaa Sayed was little, seeing a goat slaughtered for qurbani traumatised her, and she immediately decided to stop eating meat. Islam does not require the killing or eating of animals, and she realised that all animals, regardless of species, don’t want to be exploited or killed for their flesh, eggs, or milk. She became vegan, and her family’s Eid celebrations are now 100% cruelty-free. For 2020 Eid, Sayed – who also owns Earthlings, a vegan café in Andheri West – and PETA India donated vegan biryani with protein- and calcium-rich soy chunks to 750 children in seven orphanages throughout Mumbai run by the Children’s Aid Society.
Don’t Forget Deonar
Islamic law requires that animals be spared as much pain as possible during slaughter, but PETA India’s exposé of Mumbai’s Deonar slaughterhouse – where animals are sold for sacrifice before Eid – documented horrendous cruelty. The exposé revealed that the bodies of dead buffaloes are moved through the market’s premises by a bulldozer and found a shed containing the corpses of buffaloes, goats, and sheep. It also included a worker’s recorded admission that animals routinely die during transport because of severe crowding and neglect.
Appalling Cruelty at Mumbai’s Deonar Slaughterhouse from officialPETAIndia on Vimeo.
Laws on Animal Sacrifice
Sacrificing animals causes more suffering by normalising killing and desensitising children to violence against animals – and the way in which animals are handled, transported, and killed for sacrifice typically violates the requirements for killing animals for meat under animal transport and slaughter laws. Yet Section 28 of The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960, allows any animal to be killed in any manner for religion.
Join us in calling for Section 28 to be removed from the PCA by taking action here.
Symbolic Sacrifice Means More
“There is a reward (ajr) for helping any living creature.”
– Hadith: Bukhari and Muslim
There are many ways to make sacrifices on Eid ul-Adha that don’t hurt animals. As the late, great actor Irrfan Khan once said, “The meaning of Qurbani is to sacrifice something which is close to you instead of any goat or sheep which you just buy to sacrifice.”
Having a cruelty-free Eid promotes peace and compassion. Instead of taking animals’ lives, distribute vegan food to the poor, send clothes or toys to an orphanage, donate money to charity, volunteer at an animal shelter, or put out bowls of clean water for the community animals in your area.
