Views Regarding Particular Animals
Certain animals in Islamic traditions are mentioned or have a particular view attached to them:
- Bats: In Shiite hadith, bats are praised as a miracle of nature.
- Birds: Birds are commonly revered in Islamic literature, especially in Sufi tradition where they are a metaphor for the soul's divine journey to God, such as in The Conference of the Birds. In the Shi'a book of the sayings of Ali, Nahj al-Balagha, an entire sermon is dedicated to praising peacocks.
- Camels: Muhammad's camel, Qaswa, was very dear to him. Muhammad is reported as having reprimanded some men who were sitting idly on their camels in a marketplace, saying "either ride them or leave them alone".
- Cats: Muhammad is said to have loved his cat Muezza so much that "he would do without his cloak rather than disturb one that was sleeping on it."
- Dogs: see below.
- Pigs: Pork is Haraam, or not permissible to eat. One reason for this is that pigs are omnivorous, not herbivorous.
- Sheep: Muhammad prided himself in being part of a rich tradition of prophets who found their means of livelihood as being shepherds.
- Snakes: Snakes are considered to represent viciousness.
Read more about this topic: Kalb (term)
Famous quotes containing the words views and/or animals:
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“You never see animals going through the absurd and often horrible fooleries of magic and religion.... Dogs do not ritually urinate in the hope of persuading heaven to do the same and send down rain. Asses do not bray a liturgy to cloudless skies. Nor do cats attempt, by abstinence from cat’s meat, to wheedle the feline spirits into benevolence. Only man behaves with such gratuitous folly. It is the price he has to pay for being intelligent but not, as yet, quite intelligent enough.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)