Encyclopedia of Islam

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transformed into pigs and apes because of their
wrongful deeds (Q 2:65; 5:60). Quran com-
mentaries and literature about the lives of the
prophets added more detail to these stories and
also included more animal tales, such as one
about the peacock and the serpent who helped
sata n enter the Garden of Eden to seduce adam
and eve. Specific commands in the Quran and
hadith concerning food and sacrifice provided
the basis for the system of rules about what kinds
of animals should be eaten and how they should
be slaughtered (see dietary laWs). Thus, when an
animal is to be sacrificed or slaughtered for food,
the act must be done in accordance with detailed
rules to make sure that it is permissible to eat the
animal and to minimize its pain and suffering. In
general, Islamic law does not condone cruelty to
animals or blood sports such as cockfighting and
bullfighting. Such rules and prohibitions furnish
the basis for modern discussions of animal rights
in Islam, even though acts of cruelty toward ani-
mals do indeed occur in Muslim societies. There
is also a belief based on the sayings of Muham-
mad that people will be held accountable in the
aFterliFe for the way they treated animals during
their worldly existence.
Animals are popular subjects in the literary
traditions and folklore of Muslim peoples. Pre-
Islamic Arabic poetry is especially rich in refer-
ences to camels, horses, ostriches, and lions, all
animals connected to life in the Arabian Desert.
One of the enduring classics of medieval lit-
erature is Kalila wa Dimna, a collection of fables
that was brought to Persia from India and was
translated into Arabic by Ibn Muqaffa in the
eighth century. This book drew upon animal lore
to provide moral lessons and practical advice to
rulers. Arabic stories such as the brethren oF
pUrity’s “Dispute between Animals and Man”
(10th century) and Ibn Tufayl’s Hayy ibn Yaqzan
(12th century) underscore the special responsi-
bility humans have in caring for animals. Indeed,
according to tales about Muslim saints, showing
kindness toward animals was characteristic of


saintly virtue. One of the masterpieces of medi-
eval Persian mystical literature is Farid al-Din
Attar’s Conference of the Birds (Mantiq al-tayr, 12th
century), an allegorical poem about a flock of dif-
ferent kinds of birds who set out to find their true
king, only to discover that their journey is really
one of self-discovery. The birds in this poem
represent Sufi disciples in quest of God. Middle
Eastern lore also has stories about mythological
animals, such as the bUraq (Muhammad’s winged
riding animal), the simUrgh (the phoenix), and
the Rukhkh (a giant bird mentioned in the legend
of Sinbad).
Although conservative Ulama prohibited the
portrayal of humans and animals, both were
depicted in illustrated book manuscripts and
the decorative arts. Among the most popular
books containing illustrations of both domestic
and wild animals in the Middle Ages were al-
Hariri’s Maqamat, Ibn Muqaffa’s Kalila wa Dimna,
and the Shahnama (the Persian epic of kings).
Manuscripts commissioned by the rulers of the
Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal Empires (ca. 16th
century to 19th century) often contained illustra-
tions that showed animal and human subjects in
exquisite detail. Animals were also portrayed in
ceramics, metalwork, carpets, and woodwork.
They never appeared, however, in Quran manu-
scripts and mosque decorations because of the
fear that this would violate the Islamic ban on
idolatry.
See also arabian nights; ca t.

Further reading: Esin Atil, Kalila wa Dimna: Fables from
a Fourteenth-Century Arabic Manuscript (Washington,
D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1981); Farid ud-
Din Attar, The Conference of the Birds, trans. Afkham
Darbandi and Dick Davis (New York: Penguin, 1984);
Jonathan Bloom and Sheila Blair, Islamic Arts (London:
Phaidon Press, 1997); Denys Johnson-Davis, trans., The
Island of the Animals (Austin: University of Texas Press,
1994); Annemarie Schimmel, Deciphering the Signs of
God: A Phenomenological Approach to Islam (Albany:
State University of New York Press, 1994); Al-Hafiz B.

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