Kindness towards animals - am I overreacting?

[Amoeba]

We are commanded to be kind to all animals and take great care for the ones we're responsible for, if I'm not mistaken.

Recently on a wildlife forum I'm signed up to there was a thread stared about a magazine about insects and other arthropods (creatures with exoskeletons), which gives out laminated specimens of real arthropods, captive bred and then killed for the purpose of display in this magazine. A discussion erupted about the morality of this sort of thing.

The animals are apparently killed humanely and are for the purpose of educating children (still debatable whether or not it would be effective) and helping them to develop an interest about them. Still, something in me says no this seems very wrong.

If the animal is killed humanely for the purpose of education, is this permissible? I don't think it is but I'd like to make sure I'm not overreacting.

[Perseveranze]

Asalaamu Alaikum,

From what I know, Killing an animal is only permissible for food. But, this sort of thing may be allowed depending on how you interpret the following verse -

It is God who provided for you all manner of livestock, that you may ride on some of them and from some you may derive your food. And other uses in them for you to satisfy your heart's desires. It is on them, as on ships, that you make your journeys.
Qur'an 40:79-80

I personally think you should ask a Scholar or someone on something like this.

[selsebil]

Assalaam Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh,
According to the spirit and overall teachings of Islam, causing unavoidable pain and suffering to the defenseless and innocent creatures of God is not justifiable under any circumstances. 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.


Animals in the service of man should be used only when necessary and their comfort should not be neglected:

The Prophet once passed by a lean camel whose belly had shrunk to its back. "Fear God" he said to the owner of the camel, "in these dumb animals, and ride them only when they are fit to be ridden, and let them go free when it is meet that they should rest." (Narrated by Abdullah bin Ja'far. Awn [Ref. No. 32]; 7:221; Hadith No. 2532)

[nature]

From what I know, Killing an animal is only permissible for food.

Wat about killing an animal such as pet if its diseased ? yourself is this allowed ?

[S.Belle]

^ Prophet pbuh said to kill the rabid dog not sure about a rabid cat though..

The Prophet pbuh said, "Five kinds of animals are mischief-doers and can be killed even in the Sanctuary: They are the rat, the scorpion, the kite, the crow and the rabid dog."

[Amoeba]

Thanks for the clarifications. So really, unless these insects are pest species (and not all of them are) and causing humans or livestock grief then it's really not allowed. I think we should be careful when killing certain 'pests' anyway, especially larger and more slow-breeding animals like wolves. Some people took it too far in the past and drove entire animal species to extinction.

Mila: I didn't know that, interesting. Still don't think I could bring myself to kill any of those animals though unless they were a very real threat at that time (except the rabid animal, of course, which needs to be killed whether an immediate threat or not).

[- Qatada -]

asalaam alaikum warahmatulah wabarakatuh

Sheikh Sa`d al-Shuwayrikh from IslamToday.com said;

If these laboratory experiments are being conducted for some real benefit that cannot be achieved without them, then carrying out such experiments is permissible. The reason for this is that all animals have been made subject to human welfare.

However, it would be impermissible to do such experiment just for fun and for groundless reasons, since this would be plain torture and it is prohibited in Islam to torture animals. Also, even if the experment itself is valid, every care should be taken to make the subject animal as comfortable as possible. No animal should be subjected to any unnecessary discomfort.

http://islamtoday.com/node/1272

[Amoeba]

Thanks. This seems to clarify it more. The benefits derived from breeding and killing these insects "humanely" (how do you humanely kill an insect? It's still alive when its head has been chopped off...) are very vague. To 'educate' children... and there are certainly other ways of doing it, so it's not a last resort.