“There are no beings that do not constitute nations similar to you”: Notes about non-human animals at islam

Abstract

In the Islamic conception, non-human animals form communities -which resemble that of human animals. Through excerpts from the main sources of Islam, the Our'an, as well as the narratives of the life of the Prophet Muhammad, this article studies the relations between humans and non-humans as supported by Islamic tradition. Considering the doctrinal and ontological elements arranged in such sources, we point to the possibility’ of a non-anthropocentric and non-speciesist reading of the Qur'an, which reveal anthropological issues compatible with aspects of the so-called "ontological turn We may conclude that the tradition of Islam does not suggest that humans develop knowledge about animals only, but that they’ learn from animals, given the pedagogical potential of this relationship for a better understanding of the human condition.