Seek security and peace, and spread wide the feast of fellowship. Even show hospitality to wild beasts and birds, and show kindness to enemies and ill-wishers.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, to Rustam Khudadad -- AB04017)
Kindness to animals
kindness to and rights of animals
Editorial introduction
Spread wide the feast of fellowship, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá urges, and show hospitality even to wild beasts and birds. The welcome is not sentimental. Animals share with us the selfsame physical feelings, he explains, and because they cannot speak their pain, we owe them a consideration even greater than we owe our fellow man. So compassion receives tasks: feed the hungry creature, let the weary one rest, teach children to heal a sick animal, train a horse without striking it, as the Arabs do. A beaten dog is ordered two loaves of bread and meat every day; a dog shown one kindness never forgets. Harder questions follow about hunting, about the lamb killed for the table, about the limits of human power over vulnerable life, and they deserve to be read with care for each source’s setting. The Qur’án’s description of the creatures of the earth and the birds as communities like our own widens the circle further [1]. The road from here runs into compassion and kindness as such, into the assistance of the poor, the orphan and the sick, and into the questions of diet and of the animal kingdom itself.
Selected passages
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1920-Nov-12, to Baha'is of the United States -- AB00890)
Raise birds and chicks so that you may learn to nurture living beings, and raise a parrot so that it may become a source of joy for you and like it you may learn heavenly words. Although it is unaware of its own speech, you, God willing, will speak words whose meanings you will first conceive and then utter.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1914-Jul-31, to Kathaleen Hills -- AB06750)
Sultan-es-Shahada arriving on the scene looked pitifully at the fallen form of the poor animal, and turning to his servant, who was walking behind him, said: 'Write in thy note book to give two loaves of bread and some meat every day to this dog, morning and evening, because he has been beaten and cursed for our sake.'
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken on 1914-Jun-18 -- ABU1026)
It is not permissible to strike even an animal. Good training brings the animal under instruction. It makes the crooked horn straight and turns the thorny place into a rose garden. The Arabs, when training horses, do not strike them. They say striking makes the horse ill-mannered and rebellious.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken on 1913-Jan-12 in London -- ABU1749)
"Why do you beat this dumb dog?" asked the Baktashi. "Because it has entered the seminary and made the place unclean."
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to the Master's entourage, spoken at Rue St. Didier 30 on 1913-Mar-19 -- ABU3135)
If you have been kind to a dog once in your lifetime it will never forget and will follow you whenever it sees you.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken at Pleiades Sylvan Bower, Alhammeh near Tiberias, 1914-May-07 ca. -- ABU2394)
It is necessary to be kind to both man and animal; for both have received a share from this life and are endowed with feelings.
Mercy is commended and accepted by His Highness the Almighty whether it is exercised toward man or animal; even Mercy and Kindness practiced towards the plant is acceptable and beloved.
Undoubtedly it is more praiseworthy to rear and water a tree than to exterminate it from its root.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1913-Mar ca. ? -- AB09737)
As for the matter of animals, in this Cause there is great emphasis placed on showing kindness to animals.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá -- AB01199)
It is very strange that a man should kill an animal for his food, but since meat is in the market one buys it. It is indeed very grievous to kill a lamb or other animal for one's food, for the feelings of an animal are just as great as our own. As by the slightest injury, for example, a thorn-prick, the man will cry out: how much more grievous is it to kill an animal."
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to Mr and Mrs Hannen, spoken on 1909-Feb-25 -- ABU2764)
But when I saw them killing birds and animals, I thought this could not be right.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá -- ABU2296)
The Blessed Beauty knowing his love for hunting told him: 'Don't kill these innocent birds.' But the man paid no attention. Without exaggeration he fired on that day five or six hundred shots but without killing one bird.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to Remey, Latimer, et al, spoken on 1914-Oct-16 -- ABU1960)
(Bahá’u’lláh, Kitab-i-Aqdas (The Most Holy Book), 1290-05-15 [1873-Jul-11] -- BH00001)
In many countries of the West, laws are enacted to restrict the cruelty of man toward animals and in some states they are hunted only at certain seasons. When I was in America I went through several large zoological gardens, some of which covered many acres. In these gardens hunting is strictly prohibited. There are other large national Parks in Western America which I have not seen, where I have been told, gazelle and deer roam at will and man is not allowed to interfere with their freedom. In these places the animals become so tame that they associate with man. how ideal this is, how perfect, how good!
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to Remey, Latimer, et al, spoken on 1914-Oct-16 -- ABU1459)
You see people who love their dogs because of their faithfulness and the protection they provide. If but one good trait endears a dog to a human, why shouldn't praiseworthy qualities cause a man to be loved and respected? Why should fellowship with an upright person be avoided? When people are prepared to fondle an animal day and night, why should they shun association with an intelligent human being?
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to black Baha'is and others, spoken at True home on 1912-Sep-13 -- ABU2128)
O thou my dear heavenly daughter!
To the people of truth, animal, like unto man, is very dear. Therefore, man should be kind to both man and animal, and should strive as much as possible towards the comfort and protection of animals.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1921-Jul-13, to Ella G Cooper -- AB01394)
The Arab replied: 'This animal has always been my companion; whether at home or on the road he has faithfully guarded me against danger, and now he is dying of starvation in this barren wilderness and I am left utterly powerless to save his life.'
… The Arab's lament grew louder: 'But this is not an animal, this is a trained dog who has been my constant companion, accompanying me on all my travels. It has performed good and faithful service and has rescued me many a time from life-threatening danger.'
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken ca. 1904, from notes of Youness Khan Afroukhteh -- ABU1368)
I responded, 'They all feel pain nonetheless. When the microbes in the water are boiled, and the sheep and the cow raise their cries of anguish, both sets of organisms feel the agony of torment and murder.'
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken on 1913-Jan-19 in London -- ABU3680)
A.B. In the books of God there is no mention of this subject, but in the religion of God eating meat is permissible. Man can live without meat. To kill an animal and eat his flesh seems to be cruelty, but today it is almost impossible for the people not to eat the flesh of animals. It is difficult to tell people to eat pork, mutton, beef, fish. Supposing that they do not eat these, what are they going to do about drinking water: for in this glass there are thousands of living animalculae which cannot be seen under the microscope, swimming on the water.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to Mrs Hoagg et al, spoken on 1920-Oct-29 -- ABU0471)
The love shown by animals is instinctive and not dependent upon their own will--that is, they are endowed with their qualities and use them in a natural way, but not by their own will. As these qualities are instinctive and not voluntary, animals will not be rewarded. Their benefits are confined to this word only.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to Helen Goodall and Ella Cooper spoken in Jan. 1908 -- ABU1895)
(Bahá’u’lláh, Kitab-i-Iqan (The Book of Certitude), 1278 ca. [1861-1862], to Haji Mirza Siyyid Muhammad, great uncle of the Bab (Khal-i-Akbar) -- BH00002)
Continue exploring
- assistance to the poor and lowly; the orphan; the sick
- compassion; kindness
Follow mercy across human, animal, and plant life.
- consumption of meat; vegetarianism; diet
- the animal kingdom
For thought and discussion
Questions to carry forward
- What might hospitality mean when the being who needs it cannot explain its hunger, pain, or fear to us?
- How do the passages about children and training suggest ways of learning compassion through practice?
- How can we read the passages on hunting, food, and restraint together while attending carefully to their different settings and kinds of authority?
- What does the compilation’s movement between human and animal relationships reveal about the reach of mercy?