Sentientism | "Factory farming... is impermissible in Islam" - Altamush Saeed - Sentientism 216 @Sentientism | Uploaded October 2024 | Updated October 2024, 3 hours ago.
Altamush is an animal and environmental law professor. He teaches Pakistan’s 1st Animal Law Advocacy Course and is Founding Managing Partner At Environmental and Animal Rights Consultants, Pakistan’s 1st dedicated Animal and Environmental law and policy firm. Altamush is known for his non-profit work on Interspecies Justice for which he has won multiple awards. He also co-founded the Charity Doings Foundation, a non-profit that aims to save all life, be it human, animal, or the environment in Pakistan. Amongst many other advisory roles he serves as a strategic academic advisor and advocate for Muslim Veganism and Environmentalism at Green Islam.
In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?” Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The audio is on our Podcast: apple.co/391khQO & open.spotify.com/show/3c9OG5Mwf7PGChWFYBzuQI.
00:00 Clips!
01:11 Welcome
- Islam and non-human animals
- Animals as survivors/victims of natural disasters
03:00 Altamush's Intro
- 3 masters degrees: animal, environmental and human rights law "I always see the three disciplines as together"
- Teaching law
- Founding and running a non-profit and a law firm
- Becoming a documentary film-maker
05:00 What's Real?
- "I've had multiple identities"
- Growing up in Pakistan
- Doctor parents... a good education... privileges
- "Animals are kind of invisible"
- "this anthropocentric mindset... fuelled by the idea that you're unable to see beyond your own needs... until they're met at a proper scale... it's hard for people to see beyond human beings... that's the lived reality in Pakistan."
- Pakistan as an Islamic nation "part of our constitution... we have laws on Islam... laws on animal rights in Islam... codified, however not implemented properly."
- "Initially I didn't see animals... that's how I started my non-profit"
- "A cat came into my life... even though I physically rescued her she was the one who mentally rescued me... that's the day when I started seeing animals for who they really are..."
- JW: Religious belief based on faith/revelation/authority or on evidence and reason?
- "It's actually both of them... I do believe in the text... the Quran... taught about that from a very young age... we pray... community... good human rights stuff"
- "All Muslims are khalifa which is basically a ruler. But the actual word is steward... a sovereign who has responsibility for everytihng..."
- "That's not normally how it's read... you are the most superior being... everything has been made for you... you have divine permission to do anything including eating animals - that's how we're normally taught."
- "I used reason... the most driving reasoning for me was the mercy of Allah... there are constant references that his mercy overpowers his anger"
- "...How can mercy be limited?... animals are mentioned in many ways in the scripture..."
- "Whenever you connect veganism and Islam people think that's not possible because it does say... that you can eat them - however it never says that you actually have to..."
- "...there are some other principles of faith of empathy and mercy... you can extend those principles"
- "Islam is for the subjects who pray to god... however it's also mentioned that animals pray to god as well in the Quran.. the sound that the frog makes is a prayer to god and he does that his whole life... Prophet Muhammad loved the frog for this reason"
- "The Quran also mentions that animals are a community... the Arabic word Ummah... those people or those beings for whom the religion was created and animals are referenced there."
- Marine animals not mentioned because "when Islam came it was in the desert... the religion's meaning will change with time"
- "Human rights are very strongly mentioned in religion... if you do anything that harms humans... that is 100% impermissible"
13:05 What and Who Matters?
- JW: Varieties of religious worldview ranging from universal mercy and compassion to the risks of hierarchy, sexism, homophobia, harsh discriminations against outsiders & apostates
- "In the human ethics space it's very, very clear... rights for human beings are mentioned explicitly... if you extend this concept of mercy... men and women are equal in the religion"
- "Not extending rights to women... does not fall under Islam for me... however the interpretations can be slightly different"
- The story behind the Hijab...
17:00 Who Matters?
41:52 A Better World?
01:04:48 Follow Altamush
- linkedin.com/in/altamushsaeed95
- instagram.com/altamushsaeed
& much more... see sentientism.info for full notes.
#sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all #sentient beings.” More at sentientism.info/. Join our "I'm a Sentientist" wall sentientism.info/wall/. Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. E.g.: facebook.com/groups/sentientism.
Altamush is an animal and environmental law professor. He teaches Pakistan’s 1st Animal Law Advocacy Course and is Founding Managing Partner At Environmental and Animal Rights Consultants, Pakistan’s 1st dedicated Animal and Environmental law and policy firm. Altamush is known for his non-profit work on Interspecies Justice for which he has won multiple awards. He also co-founded the Charity Doings Foundation, a non-profit that aims to save all life, be it human, animal, or the environment in Pakistan. Amongst many other advisory roles he serves as a strategic academic advisor and advocate for Muslim Veganism and Environmentalism at Green Islam.
In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?” Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The audio is on our Podcast: apple.co/391khQO & open.spotify.com/show/3c9OG5Mwf7PGChWFYBzuQI.
00:00 Clips!
01:11 Welcome
- Islam and non-human animals
- Animals as survivors/victims of natural disasters
03:00 Altamush's Intro
- 3 masters degrees: animal, environmental and human rights law "I always see the three disciplines as together"
- Teaching law
- Founding and running a non-profit and a law firm
- Becoming a documentary film-maker
05:00 What's Real?
- "I've had multiple identities"
- Growing up in Pakistan
- Doctor parents... a good education... privileges
- "Animals are kind of invisible"
- "this anthropocentric mindset... fuelled by the idea that you're unable to see beyond your own needs... until they're met at a proper scale... it's hard for people to see beyond human beings... that's the lived reality in Pakistan."
- Pakistan as an Islamic nation "part of our constitution... we have laws on Islam... laws on animal rights in Islam... codified, however not implemented properly."
- "Initially I didn't see animals... that's how I started my non-profit"
- "A cat came into my life... even though I physically rescued her she was the one who mentally rescued me... that's the day when I started seeing animals for who they really are..."
- JW: Religious belief based on faith/revelation/authority or on evidence and reason?
- "It's actually both of them... I do believe in the text... the Quran... taught about that from a very young age... we pray... community... good human rights stuff"
- "All Muslims are khalifa which is basically a ruler. But the actual word is steward... a sovereign who has responsibility for everytihng..."
- "That's not normally how it's read... you are the most superior being... everything has been made for you... you have divine permission to do anything including eating animals - that's how we're normally taught."
- "I used reason... the most driving reasoning for me was the mercy of Allah... there are constant references that his mercy overpowers his anger"
- "...How can mercy be limited?... animals are mentioned in many ways in the scripture..."
- "Whenever you connect veganism and Islam people think that's not possible because it does say... that you can eat them - however it never says that you actually have to..."
- "...there are some other principles of faith of empathy and mercy... you can extend those principles"
- "Islam is for the subjects who pray to god... however it's also mentioned that animals pray to god as well in the Quran.. the sound that the frog makes is a prayer to god and he does that his whole life... Prophet Muhammad loved the frog for this reason"
- "The Quran also mentions that animals are a community... the Arabic word Ummah... those people or those beings for whom the religion was created and animals are referenced there."
- Marine animals not mentioned because "when Islam came it was in the desert... the religion's meaning will change with time"
- "Human rights are very strongly mentioned in religion... if you do anything that harms humans... that is 100% impermissible"
13:05 What and Who Matters?
- JW: Varieties of religious worldview ranging from universal mercy and compassion to the risks of hierarchy, sexism, homophobia, harsh discriminations against outsiders & apostates
- "In the human ethics space it's very, very clear... rights for human beings are mentioned explicitly... if you extend this concept of mercy... men and women are equal in the religion"
- "Not extending rights to women... does not fall under Islam for me... however the interpretations can be slightly different"
- The story behind the Hijab...
17:00 Who Matters?
41:52 A Better World?
01:04:48 Follow Altamush
- linkedin.com/in/altamushsaeed95
- instagram.com/altamushsaeed
& much more... see sentientism.info for full notes.
#sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all #sentient beings.” More at sentientism.info/. Join our "I'm a Sentientist" wall sentientism.info/wall/. Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. E.g.: facebook.com/groups/sentientism.
