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Is The Aggression During Slaughtering An Animal In Line With Fitrah?
Assalamu Alaikum,
According to the concept of fitrah — our natural, God-given nature — we are inclined toward mercy, kindness, and avoiding unnecessary harm.Part of this fitrah seems to include a natural emotional resistance to the sight of blood, pain, or the killing of living beings — especially animals that have done no harm.
Question is:— When someone performs Qurbani, they often need to show a certain level of firmness — or what may look like controlled aggression — to carry out the act.This is because the natural human response is hesitation, emotional discomfort, or even revulsion.Humans usually need to mentally prepare themselves before cutting the throat and seeing the blood gushing out.This act of “mental preparation” — done in order to override the natural emotional reaction — could be argued by some as a corruption or suppression of human nature, because it requires silencing an inner resistance that is part of our fitrah.Even children are often advised not to watch such scenes, which shows how emotionally sensitive we naturally are to them.
So my main question is:
Is this kind of firmness or controlled aggression part of our fitrah ?
Or is it something that goes against fitrah, but is allowed by Allah.
Note: My question is not about the permissibility of eating meat, but about the process of slaughtering — and whether the emotional and moral struggle involved aligns with or contradicts the human fitrah.
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4 Replies
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Is The Aggression During Slaughtering An Animal In Line With Fitrah?
updated 22 hours, 32 minutes ago
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Replies
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Both good and evil are inherent aspects of nature. Compassion and cruelty are also natural instincts.
While slaughtering animals may appear to contradict the instinct of mercy, it is permitted because God has allowed it. Just as God has permitted animals to hunt one another, He has likewise granted humans the right to slaughter animals for their sustenance.
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Indeed, both good and evil are part of fitrah, but when we say fitrah, we usually mean the moral compass that prefers good over evil.
Secondly, Deen itself commands us to enjoin good and forbid evil, a fundamental principle stated in such a grand way.
So the whole question is divided into three parts:
1. Does this contradiction of mercy mean contradicting the moral goodness we possess?
2. Do we follow it just because God has said so?
3. And here comes the third part: God does not command anything that goes against our fitrah, as the whole Deen is based upon it — so it must be in line with fitrah?
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The words are used with different connotations. The word Fitrah is sometimes used to tell what is right. But this is not the only connotation of it. We also define Fitrah that includes both evil and good, and the urge to prefer good over evil is also in Fitrah, and deviation from good is also in Fitrah.
To show aggression is in Fitrah, too. Slaughtering animals is against mercy, but God has allowed it in His Shariah, as He allowed it in nature, where predators hunt other animals.
The principle of life on the earth is not based on justice or mercy, but on the principle of test and trial. Everyone suffers one way or another. They will be rewarded for their suffering, including animals.
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I understand all of this, but my question is not about the principles of justice or mercy from the perspective of the universe; it is about them from the moral and religious perspective of human beings—moral and rational beings.
Firstly, the only connotation I use for the word Fitrah is a moral one. By “moral,” I mean an innate urge to do good over evil—this is the perspective from which I am approaching my question, as religion is fundamentally based on this moral Fitrah.
Secondly, aggression is also part of Fitrah, but it falls under the category of emotion or feeling, not the moral aspect. Aggression itself does not necessarily mean evil. Whether an act is morally wrong is determined by our moral sense. For example, killing a killer is not morally wrong, but killing an innocent person is.
Thirdly, the example of predators preying on others does not fit this question, because in the context of morality, animals are not moral beings. Their actions are biological rather than moral.
To make my question clear: I understand and agree with the biological perspective, but besides biology, humans have moral senses. So, when we feel aggression while slaughtering an animal:
1. Does our moral sense at the time of slaughter confirm or reject this aggression? (Here, I am not referring specifically to mercy, but to the sense of right and wrong—since mercy itself does not determine moral rightness or wrongness.)
2. If our moral sense confirms it, on what basis does it confirm it—biological necessity? This is because our emotions doesn’t seem to align with it.How can we know whether the act we are doing is morally right or not, and on what basis? Part of our Fitrah (biological) acknowledges it, while part of our Fitrah (emotions—mercy) disapproves of it.
3. If our moral sense does not confirm it, does this mean we perform the act solely because God has allowed it, even if it goes against our moral sense?
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