Report from the Mosque: Animals in Islam

Last night, we attended an open house at a Mosque here. The purpose was for people to come and learn about al-Islam.

Toward the end of the Q-and-A period, I asked the Imam (pic, above) the following question, which went like this:

"Asalaam aleikum. (He and most attendees responded, 'Waleikum asalaam'.) Hindu people hold the cow as sacred, as Divine Mother, almost like how Christians might view Mary. I grew up here, and most people I know keep pets in their homes - cats or dogs and such - and cherish them, consider them part of their family. My wife and I have a dog who is our 'child' in a very meaningful sense. I am wondering if in the Hadith or Qur'an there is any mention of our proper relationship with animals, and if you would speak to that?"

The Imam gave a pretty sweet answer. Between my poor hearing and his accent, I did not catch every word, but I got most of it. The Imam began his answer by saying it was a very good question and that he appreciated it. He explained that though Muslims are not vegetarian, they do keep Halal and Kosher rules, partly to ensure compassion for animals. He explained that Mohammed stopped the practice of using animals for "target practice" and that he told people who ride camels to get down off of the camels when they stop to meet, in order to let the camels rest; also, that no animal - bird, fish, etc. - should be killed or harmed in any way, aside from for eating them.

Afterwards, in the fellowship period, several people approached me to follow up. One was a US soldier who had served in Iraq since after the Gulf War who said he is going vegetarian now because he has come to see that "it is not right to kill and eat animals when we don't need to." Two separate Muslims came to me (one Egyptian, the other white American) with the following two stories from the Hadith:

There was a very bad criminal who one day found a cat out in the rain and took it into his home to dry and warm it, feed it, care for it, and that ALL of his previous sins were wiped clean by this one act. In the other version, it was a prostitute who saw a thirsty dog trying to get water, so she gave it water and all her sins were wiped clean.

Nice!

May all beings be well and happy, free of suffering and the causes of suffering.