Civil Liability for the Protection of Animals in Imamī Jurisprudence and Law
Document Type : Original Article
Abstract
Nowadays, animal rights and the preservation of different animal species are among the issues that attract the attention of governments, organizations, and all those interested in environmental issues and animal protection around the world. In Islam too, issues relating to the environment and in particular animals have been the subject of debate, in addition to issues related to human rights. In Islamic legal sources, based on numerous Quranic verses and prophetic narrations, various rights were stated regarding animals, obliging Muslims to respect them, and the civil responsibility for the protection of animals was affirmed. The protection of animal rights is not only the responsibility of their owners but also involves the responsibility of everyone. Islamic legal texts even go so far as to explicitly designate the religious magistrate responsible for examining situations and taking legal action to improve the living conditions of animals in certain circumstances.