- Welcome back, now
we answer questions
we've received from
you, our viewers.
If you have a question,
visit our website,
quranspeaks.com.
Dr. Shabir, the question is,
"Why did God make religion
for human beings only?
"What about animals?"
- Well, generally in the
study of anthropology,
when we think
about human beings,
we realize that human beings
have a certain degree
of intelligence,
which far surpasses what we know
from the animal
kingdom, generally.
And religion is one
of the manifestations
of this higher form
of human intelligence.
So if you're going
back in history
and we find some cave paintings
or something like this,
we find some remains
from some civilizations.
One of the first
questions we wanna ask is,
is there any
manifestation of religion
because that will show
a certain conception
of abstract things to
something like life hereafter
or the existence of God
or something like this.
We don't expect the
same thing in animals.
But what is interesting
is that in the Quran,
animals are shown
to have a close relationship
with God as well.
The Quran says, for example,
in sura six verse number
38, "Like among the animals,
"there are communities also
like human communities,"
which is a surprising statement.
And in the 17th chapter of
the Quran in the 44th verse,
it even says that
everything in the heavens
and the earth praise God,
but we human beings
do not understand
the way in which
they praise God.
So Muslim commentators
talk about this
and they say, "Well,
everything in the heavens
"and the earth,
everything submits to God
"in their own way."
And to begin with, we ourselves
and the parts of our bodies
are submitting to God
in some way that is
beyond our control
like our hearts are
beating at a steady pace
without our thinking about it.
Then there are certain things
that we will to happen,
we intend to do certain
things, but certain things,
some other things are just
simply happening automatically.
And in that way, we can
conceive of the animals,
doing certain things
instinctively as well
and perhaps in their own ways,
even the flap of
a butterfly's wing
is a way of celebrating
the magnificence of God
and the wondrous nature
of his creative ability
to create some such things
as delicate butterflies.
So we don't know the
full answer to that.
Do animals have a certain
degree of consciousness
that puts them into some
communication with God
so that God understands the
way in which the animals
are in their own
way praising God?
This is a mystery to us,
but if we understand it, at
least in a naturalistic manner,
we can see that,
and interpret that
from within a
religious framework,
we would say that everything
is actually subjected to God
and that's, in a way,
it gives Muslims more of a
reason to be protective of
and respectful of animals
because it is mentioned
in a certain saying
that if you, attributed to our
prophet peace, be upon him,
if you kill an ant, you are
killing a whole community
of the creatures of God who
are actually praising God.
So, because we don't want the
word of God to be obliterated,
we wouldn't even kill an
ant if it's not harming us.
- So nicely, put Dr. Shabir,
thank you for that.
- You're welcome.
