mukhtar-todd-2023-an-islamic-framework-for-animal-ethics-widening-the-conversation-to-include-islamic-ethical.pdf

This article explores normative ways of conceptualizing Islamic ethics, animal ethics, and the divergent

positions on the ethical treatment of animals by Muslims within Islamic scholarly discourse.

Too often, the literature addressing the intersection between Islamic ethics and animal ethics is

narrowly focused on the topic of halal slaughter. Therefore, this article proposes a wider conversation

about an alternative relationship between Muslims and nonhuman animals in the industrialized

factory farming era, suggesting that an ethical-vegetarian lifestyle may more accurately

uphold the Islamic principles of compassion and mercy, as well as the Islamic practice of intellectual

effort, ijtihad. At the very least, a reconceptualization to that end deserves rigorous consideration

within Islamic scholarship, taking the debate beyond simply the moment and manner of an animal’s

death.