Abstract
Abstract This article draws on an excerpt of ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī (d. 561/1166) in his al-Ghunya li-Ṭālibī al-Ḥaqq (“The Sufficient Provision for Seekers of the Path to the Truth [God]”), dealing with ādāb related to killing or sparing inedible animals. It first pleads for a detailed textual analysis, in order to understand the normative frame the author uses. Keeping away from an exclusive juridical perspective, we try to consider Islamic normativity as a whole, using a holistic normative methodology and encompassing ādāb, popular beliefs, and spiritual tenets beyond fiqh rules. This analysis is the key to find out which function do ādāb toward animals have for believers.
Highlights
تدرس هذه المقالة مقتطفات من كتاب الغنية لطالبي الحق لعبد القادر الجيلاني (ت،)1166/561 . والتي تتناول الآداب المتعلقة بالحيوانات التي لا تؤكل ،وخاصة ما يتصل بخيار قتلها أو تركها على قيد الحياة .نقوم أولا ًبإجراء تحليل نصي مف َ ّصل ،وذلك من أجل فهم الإطار القيمي الحاكم الذي يستخدمه الجيلاني .وبعيدًا عن المنظور الفقهي المحض ،نقدم بعد ذلك مقاربة شمولية للمنظومة القيمية الإسلامية، وذلك من خلال استخدام منهجية كلية للقيم ،تتضمن الآداب والمعتقدات الشائعة والمبادئ الروحية التي تتجاوز الأحكام الفقهية .ونرى أن هذا التحليل هو المفتاح لمعرفة وظيفة آداب التعامل مع الحيوان
Al-Jīlānī reveals himself as a pragmatic, practice-oriented teacher, with a discourse anchored in the Sunnī tradition
As retraced through the fiqh terminology, the author picks up more or less commonly shared rules that fit his vision. With his choices and the “decontextualisations” of some rules evoked conventionally in specific chapters of ḥadīth books, al-Jīlānī fashions a basic frame for an ethical behavior toward animals
Summary
By analyzing both the content of each paragraph and the order of the rules and the ḥadīth respectively, the normative hierarchy and the rulings system become clearer. The heart, the blood, and the members of the frog may form a part of some magical mixtures to change one’s body or to kill somebody (Von Hees 2002, 192–193) Regarding this very widespread (possible) use of the animal, it seems to make sense to refer to the ḥadīth where the prohibition to kill is an answer to the question of using frogs for medical or magical aims. 2.2.5 Killing with Fire (al-Jīlānī 1997, 87) Another exception to killing is introduced here, as it is stated that: “It is blameworthy to kill with fire all what it is permitted to kill, such as bugs (baqq), louses (qaml), fleas (barghūth), and ants, following the Prophetic saying that ‘Nobody (is allowed to) torture with the fire except the Lord of the fire’” (al-Jīlānī 1997, 87) We understand from this that those animals can be killed in principle but not with fire; so, the prohibition does not concern the killing but rather the way of killing. The paradox is even stronger considering that this event conveys a schism between God on one side, protecting dogs as a community, and the angels joining the Prophet on the other side, as they refuse to visit the Prophet because of the presence of a pet in the house, expressing abhorrence of the animal within him
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