Pro-animal teachings in Islam made available free to the world

Animals In Islam,  2nd edition

From Al-Ma’arri (973-1057) to ABA Masri (1914-1992)

by Al-Hafiz Basheer Ahmad Masri

with foreword by Syed Rizvi

165 pages,  paperback.

“This book is published for non-commercial and free distribution in collaboration with the Pakistan Medical Association,  the Pakistan Animal Welfare Society,  and Engineers & Scientists for Animal Rights to create awareness about animal rights among general public and Muslims living all over the world.”

Evolution parallel to that of the Quran itself

The Quran,  the holy book of Islam,   according to tradition was revealed by God in increments to the Prophet Mohammad through the archangel Gabriel,  through the last 23 years of Mohammed’s life.

The first written edition of the Quran was produced from the memories of Mohammed’s companions,  along with the Hadiths,  or sayings of the prophet,  between a year and two years after Mohammed’s death,  circa 632–634 CE,  but a standard version was not established for another ten or twelve years.

Animals In Islam,  2nd edition,  reviewed here,  has undergone a similar evolution over nearly the same length of time,  while barely changing in any aspect of text or teachings.

Many names & printings

The original version,  authored by Al-Hafiz Basheer Ahmad Masri (1914-1992),  appeared under the title Islamic Concern for Animals,  published by the Athene Trust,  the original name of the organization now known as Compassion In World Farming.

The first edition included both English and Arabic texts,  as did a 2007 edition retitled Animals In Islam,  jointly produced by Compassion In World Farming and the Egyptian Society of Animal Friends.

Almost simultaneously an edition titled Animal Welfare in Islam,  published in English only,  appeared from the Islamic Foundation,  of Leicestershire,  United Kingdom,  and Quran House,  of Nairobi,  Kenya.

Animals In Islam,  2nd edition is also published in English only.

At least three other editions have been published in English,  including one from Lantern Books of New York City in 2022.  More editions have apparently been issued in Arabic,  and several downloadable editions have appeared online,  though none appear to be currently accessible.

Who was Al-Hafiz Basheer Ahmad Masri?

Under any title and format,  and in either English or Arabic,  Islamic Concern for Animals or Animals In Islam or Animal Welfare in Islam is widely considered the definitive work to date on the obligations that religious Muslims should observe toward animals.

Author B.A. Masri brought formidable credentials to the task of compiling it.  His honorific,   Al-Hafiz,   signifies that he had memorized the entire Quran.

After a long teaching career,  Masri edited the monthly Islamic Review,  1961-1967, visited and spoke in more than 40 chiefly Muslim nations,  and was a well-known lecturer and broadcast commentator on Islamic affairs.

Masri also served from 1964 to 1968 as Imam of the Shah Jahan Masque in London,  the oldest center of Islamic worship in the United Kingdom.

“Need not go anywhere else for guidance”

“The Islamic instruction and guidance on animal rights and man’s obligations concerning them are so comprehensive that he need not go elsewhere for any guidance,”  Masri prefaced.

“As believers in the consummate and conclusive revelation of God,”   Masri continued,  “we are expected to learn from the misconceptions of the past and cast behind us the parochial approach to religion.  Fourteen centuries is a long enough period to grasp mentally the fact that the way to spiritual development (Dîn) does not lie in ritualistic observance and the hair-splitting of the Law (Sharâh).  Surely it is a long enough period to liberate ourselves from the pre-Islamic traits of our respective cultures.”

Praised vegetarianism

“Not to be cruel or even to be condescendingly kind to the so-called inferior animals is a negative proposition,”  Masri asserted.   “Islam wants us to think and act in the positive terms of accepting all species as communities like us in their own right,  and not to sit in judgment on them according to our human norms and values.”

Observing that “Islam has left the option of eating meat to one’s discretion,”  Masri nonetheless praised vegetarianism as an ethical way of life,  denounced the consumption of animal products from factory farms,  and controversially argued that if Muslims were aware of the sacreligious aspects of factory farming,  relative to Islamic teachings,  they would “become vegetarians rather than eat such sacrilegious meat.”

Foreword by friend of Masri

Syed Rizvi,  author of the foreword to Animals In Islam, 2nd edition,  now living in San Jose,  California,  is a physicist born in Patna,  Bihar,  India,  “the land of Mahavira and Buddha,”  he writes,  “the icons of non-violence or ahimsa,  where ‘do no harm to animals’ has been the central theme of their message to mankind.”

Raised a Muslim,  Rizvi was personally acquainted with Masri.

Animals In Islam, 2nd edition came about,  despite the availability of other editions from commercial publishers,  Rizvi writes,  “to honor Imam Masri’s wishes to spread the message of animals’ place in Islam around the world,  a task that is like banging one’s head against a brick wall,  as the Imam put it in a 1991 letter to me.

“Soon after we had this communication,  the Imam passed away,”  Rizvi recounts.

“PETA has stepped up”

“This was a setback to his idea of reaching out to the world in an efficient way.  It was not until early 2020 that Dr. Shershah Syed of the Pakistan Medical Association came up with the idea of free distribution of the book and offered his services for free printing.

“A limited number of books were then printed and began to be distributed to the public.  But soon afterward,  the demand for the book began to climb to the point that,  at the time of this writing,  only a very few copies are left in stock,  yet at the same time,  interest in vegan food,  including recipes,  is growing online and elsewhere.

“Considering the enormity of the task of distributing these books on a global scale,  it no longer seems feasible by a few individuals who have been trying their best to carry out the task.  So it is good news that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has stepped up to undertake the task of distributing the book to interested individuals and asking them to donate the cost of the postage.

“Later,  an electronic copy of the book will be available that will ease the task of distribution and quickly reach a wider audience.”

“Do not desire as food the flesh of slaughtered animals”

To the original text by Masri,  Rizvi has added,  in translation,  a poem by Al-Ma’arri (973-1057),  a popular poet and philosopher in his time,  from Ma’arrat al-Nu’man,  Syria:

 

Do not unjustly eat fish the water has given up, and do not
desire as food the flesh of slaughtered animals,
Or the white milk of mothers who intended its pure draught for
their young, not for noble ladies.
And do not grieve the unsuspecting birds by taking their eggs;
for injustice is the worst of crimes.
And spare the honey which the bees get industriously
from the flowers of fragrant plants;
For they did not store it that it might belong to others, nor did
they gather it for bounty and gifts.
I washed my hands of all this; and wish that I had perceived
my way before my hair went gray!

Islamists will take umbrage

This addition is entirely consistent with the expressed beliefs of Masri and appears to be consistent with various of the Hadiths of Mohammed,  as well.

Yet it also ensures that Animals In Islam, 2nd edition will not find favor with the Islamists directing such entities as the Hamas regime in Gaza,  Hezbollah in Lebanon,  Boko Haram in Nigeria,  the Houthi militia in Yemen,  Isis in Iraq and Syria,  the Taliban in Afghanistan and northern Pakistan,  the Wahabi faction in Saudi Arabia,  and the Shiite government of Iran.

“Because of his controversially irreligious worldview,”  Wikipedia offers,  Al-Ma’arri “is known as one of the ‘foremost atheists’ of his time according to Nasser Rabbat,”  the Aga Khan Professor of Islamic Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,  who has written extensively about Islamic history and culture.

Who was Al-Ma’arri?

Blinded at age four by smallpox,  Al-Ma’arri nonetheless pursued an education in Aleppo,  Tripoli and Antioch,  becoming in the words of Wikipedia “a controversial rationalist of his time,  rejecting superstition and dogmatism.  He attacked religious dogmas and practices, was equally critical and sarcastic about Judaism,  Christianity,  Islam,  and Zoroastrianism,  and became a deist.  He advocated social justice and lived a secluded, ascetic lifestyle.  He was a vegan,  known in his time as a moral vegetarian.

“Al-Ma’arri criticized many of the dogmas of Islam,”  continues Wikipedia,  “such as the Haj, which he called “a pagan’s journey.”  He rejected claims of any divine revelation and his creed was that of a philosopher and ascetic, for whom reason provides a moral guide,  and virtue is its own reward.”

Al-Qaida beheaded statue

The Al-Nusra Front,  a branch of Al-Qaida,  in 2013 beheaded a statue of Al-Ma’arri during the Syrian civil war.

But Al-Ma’arri himself might have approved of this,  having in common with Mohammed a deep disapproval of anything resembling idolatry.

Despite Masri’s stated belief that,  “The Islamic instruction and guidance on animal rights and man’s obligations concerning them are so comprehensive that he need not go elsewhere for any guidance,”  none of the many editions of Islamic Concern for Animals aka Animals In Islam aka Animal Welfare in Islam address some of the animal issues now keenly controversial in some Islamic nations.

This is not because Mohammed said nothing relevant.  Rather,  issues such as the permissibility of spay/neuter surgery for dogs and cats had not yet been raised in much of the Islamic world during Masri’s lifetime.

Mohammed did offer general guidance applicable to many such questions,  some of which are addressed in the ANIMALS 24-7 articles What does Islam teach about spay/neuter of dogs & cats? and What did the Prophet Mohammed really say about dogs?

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