What Does the Quran Say About Animal Testing?
Like most modern-day issues, the Quran does not explicitly state that animal testing is haram.
While the Quran allows humans to use animals when necessary, animal experiments are not necessary for human health or survival.
Experimenting on animals to develop treatments for humans is a terrible gamble with a high failure rate:
Experimenting on animals to develop treatments for humans is a terrible gamble with a high failure rate:
- 95% of drugs that prove safe and effective in animal tests fail in human trials, according to the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH). [1]
- New drugs developed using animals in many areas of disease research have a failure rate even greater than 95% [2]:
- Alzheimer’s 99.6%
- Cancer 96.6%
- HIV/AIDS vaccine 100.0%
- Stroke 100.0% (1,000 new agents tested in animals and in 100 clinical trials)
- Sepsis 100.0%
- 90% of basic research, mostly involving animals, fails to lead to any human therapies within 20 years. [3]
- Up to 89% of published studies—many involving animals—cannot be reproduced which is a big problem considering reproducibility is critical to effective research. [4]
Elias Zerhouni, a Muslim scientist and previous head of the National Institutes of Health has previously suggested the need for more human-relevant research methods:
“We have moved away from studying human disease in humans…We all drank the Kool-Aid on that one, me included… With the ability to knock in or knock out any gene in a mouse—which ‘can’t sue us’…The problem is that it hasn’t worked, and it’s time we stopped dancing around the problem…We need to refocus and adapt new methodologies for use in humans to understand disease biology in humans.” [5]
More than 1,000 years ago in the Islamic Golden Age, Muslim philosopher and physician Ibn Sina warned humans not to experiment drugs on animals. [6]
Today, we know that non-animal methods are cheaper, quicker, and more effective than animal experiments. These include in-vitro models, cells and tissue cultures, computer models, and groundbreaking technology such as “organs on chips”. [7]
How can anyone argue that animal experiments are necessary for survival considering their massive failure rate and the availability of human-relevant, non-animal methods?
Animal experimenters often exaggerate the role of animal tests in a few discoveries—insulin and the polio vaccine. In the case of insulin, experimenters removed dogs’ pancreases to induce diabetes and gave the dogs pancreatic extracts to treat it. [8] Rather than harming dogs, these people could have employed emerging in-vitro methods, exploring how pancreatic extracts affect tissues to understand its efficacy in treating diabetes.
In the case of the polio vaccine, experimenters injected the poliovirus into monkeys' brains and spines. However, studies at the time had already noted that poliovirus entered humans through the digestive system--not the brain or spine. Sadly, the scientific community sidelined this crucial understanding drawn from humans. [9]
Experimenting on animals to develop treatments for humans is like gambling at a casino; a few successes don't prove it’s a winning strategy.
Numerous verses in the Quran warn us that Allah SWT does not like those who are wasteful. Ineffective animal experiments are a waste of animal lives, funding, and time.
Today, we know that non-animal methods are cheaper, quicker, and more effective than animal experiments. These include in-vitro models, cells and tissue cultures, computer models, and groundbreaking technology such as “organs on chips”. [7]
How can anyone argue that animal experiments are necessary for survival considering their massive failure rate and the availability of human-relevant, non-animal methods?
Animal experimenters often exaggerate the role of animal tests in a few discoveries—insulin and the polio vaccine. In the case of insulin, experimenters removed dogs’ pancreases to induce diabetes and gave the dogs pancreatic extracts to treat it. [8] Rather than harming dogs, these people could have employed emerging in-vitro methods, exploring how pancreatic extracts affect tissues to understand its efficacy in treating diabetes.
In the case of the polio vaccine, experimenters injected the poliovirus into monkeys' brains and spines. However, studies at the time had already noted that poliovirus entered humans through the digestive system--not the brain or spine. Sadly, the scientific community sidelined this crucial understanding drawn from humans. [9]
Experimenting on animals to develop treatments for humans is like gambling at a casino; a few successes don't prove it’s a winning strategy.
Numerous verses in the Quran warn us that Allah SWT does not like those who are wasteful. Ineffective animal experiments are a waste of animal lives, funding, and time.
Eat of the fruit they bear and pay the dues at harvest, but do not waste. Surely He does not like the wasteful.
Quran 6:141
Surely the wasteful are ˹like˺ brothers to the devils. And the Devil is ever ungrateful to his Lord.
Quran 17:27
˹They are˺ those who spend neither wastefully nor stingily, but moderately in between.
Quran 25:67
Quran 6:141
Surely the wasteful are ˹like˺ brothers to the devils. And the Devil is ever ungrateful to his Lord.
Quran 17:27
˹They are˺ those who spend neither wastefully nor stingily, but moderately in between.
Quran 25:67
Animal Experiments are un-Islamic
The Prophet PBUH opposed cruelty to animals in his time, strongly denouncing actions such as beating, striking, branding, and marking animals. [10]
Today, experimenters routinely and intentionally inflict mental and physical suffering on animals.
At Harvard University, an experimenter named Margaret Livingstone steals baby monkeys from their mothers and stitches some of the babies’ eyes closed.
She observes the mothers’ severe distress and grief after losing their babies.
These experiments, which have continued for decades are criticized for failing to produce meaningful, new conclusions that translate to humans and for repeating well-established findings about psychological damage in monkeys. [11]
Livingstone even acknowledges how irrelevant these experiments are to humans stating that “…there is no way of knowing the extent to which these observations bear on human maternal bonding…”. [12]
Today, experimenters routinely and intentionally inflict mental and physical suffering on animals.
At Harvard University, an experimenter named Margaret Livingstone steals baby monkeys from their mothers and stitches some of the babies’ eyes closed.
She observes the mothers’ severe distress and grief after losing their babies.
These experiments, which have continued for decades are criticized for failing to produce meaningful, new conclusions that translate to humans and for repeating well-established findings about psychological damage in monkeys. [11]
Livingstone even acknowledges how irrelevant these experiments are to humans stating that “…there is no way of knowing the extent to which these observations bear on human maternal bonding…”. [12]
Figure 1 in Triggers for Mother Love | Margaret S. Livingstone | CC BY-NC-ND
Just like humans, monkeys have an naturally protective maternal bond with their young. These images from the experiments at Harvard show mother monkeys protecting her baby from a threat.
In his time, the Prophet PBUH admonished people who caused animals to grieve. One tradition [13] narrates how he confronted people who caused a mother bird to grieve for the loss of her young:
The Messenger of Allah came and said: Who grieved this for its young ones? Return its young ones to it.
Altering Animals for Experiments is Not Islamic
Animals don’t suffer from many of the diseases that humans do, nor do their bodies work the same way.
Therefore, experimenters breed and genetically alter animals to suffer from unnatural diseases in an attempt to make the potential findings seem more relevant to humans.
The Quran warns humans against altering creation, which includes animals, comparing it to following Shaitan:
Therefore, experimenters breed and genetically alter animals to suffer from unnatural diseases in an attempt to make the potential findings seem more relevant to humans.
The Quran warns humans against altering creation, which includes animals, comparing it to following Shaitan:
I will certainly mislead them and delude them with empty hopes. Also, I will order them and they will slit the ears of cattle and alter Allah’s creation.” And whoever takes Satan as a guardian instead of Allah has certainly suffered a tremendous loss.
Quran 4:119
Quran 4:119
For years, experimenters at the University of Wisconsin-Madison performed invasive ear, skull, and brain surgeries on cats and repeatedly forced them to endure “sound localization” experiments. The experimenters screwed steel posts in the cats’ heads, used toxic substances to deafen them, and implanted devices.
Records indicate that some of the cats woke up during the surgeries. In the experiments, the cats would be restrained and their heads bolted in place while experimenters forced them to listen to sounds sometimes for hours on end.
When prompted to justify their need for the cats, the experimenters revealed that it wasn’t to find cures for humans but “to collect enough data to keep up a productive publication record that ensures our constant funding from NIH over these 30 years.” [14]
Records indicate that some of the cats woke up during the surgeries. In the experiments, the cats would be restrained and their heads bolted in place while experimenters forced them to listen to sounds sometimes for hours on end.
When prompted to justify their need for the cats, the experimenters revealed that it wasn’t to find cures for humans but “to collect enough data to keep up a productive publication record that ensures our constant funding from NIH over these 30 years.” [14]
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These images show a cat named “Double Trouble” who lived through multiple surgeries, endured hours of sound experiments, and developed bacterial infections in her head. Ultimately, experimenters killed her.
Many Muslims revere cats and many believe that the Prophet PBUH was particularly fond of cats.
How can anyone justify such a unnecessary, greed-driven experiment on innocent cats? What might have our beloved Prophet PBUH thought?
In another egregious example, an experimenter named Elisabeth Murray alters the brains of healthy, living monkeys in an attempt to learn about mental illness in humans. How? She saws open the monkeys’ skulls, injects toxins to kill brain cells, and suctions out portions of their brain.
After the invasive procedure, Murray locks the monkeys in cages and deliberately terrifies them using rubber snakes and spiders to record how they react.
Finally, Murray kills the monkeys.
Scientists argue that Murray’s experiments are scientifically flawed and useless, not only because captivity-induced stress creates confounding health issues in monkeys, but also because the brain damage does not mimic conditions seen in mentally-ill humans.
Moreover, the behavioral components of the experiments fail to capture the complexity of human mental-health problems. [15]
How can anyone justify such a unnecessary, greed-driven experiment on innocent cats? What might have our beloved Prophet PBUH thought?
In another egregious example, an experimenter named Elisabeth Murray alters the brains of healthy, living monkeys in an attempt to learn about mental illness in humans. How? She saws open the monkeys’ skulls, injects toxins to kill brain cells, and suctions out portions of their brain.
After the invasive procedure, Murray locks the monkeys in cages and deliberately terrifies them using rubber snakes and spiders to record how they react.
Finally, Murray kills the monkeys.
Scientists argue that Murray’s experiments are scientifically flawed and useless, not only because captivity-induced stress creates confounding health issues in monkeys, but also because the brain damage does not mimic conditions seen in mentally-ill humans.
Moreover, the behavioral components of the experiments fail to capture the complexity of human mental-health problems. [15]
This image shows a monkey in Murray’s lab during a fear test.
All life is sacred by Allah SWT.
Muslims are not to take a life without a valid reason or need.
This principle is conveyed in the Quran but also in Hadith such as that which forbids hunting and killing animals for sport since a human's entertainment is an unnecessary reason to take a life.
Muslims are not to take a life without a valid reason or need.
This principle is conveyed in the Quran but also in Hadith such as that which forbids hunting and killing animals for sport since a human's entertainment is an unnecessary reason to take a life.
Do not take a life--made sacred by Allah—except with right. If anyone is killed unjustly, We have given their heirs the authority, but do not let them exceed limits in retaliation, for they are already supported ˹by law˺.
Quran 17:33
They are those who do not invoke any other god besides Allah, nor take a life—made sacred by Allah--except with right
Quran 25:68
Quran 17:33
They are those who do not invoke any other god besides Allah, nor take a life—made sacred by Allah--except with right
Quran 25:68
Given that many animal tests lead to suffering or death without guaranteeing benefits for humans, the practice can be seen as taking life unjustly.
The Quran emphasizes that all creatures on Earth, from insects in the ground, birds in the sky, fish in the sea, to animals on the land exist in their own communities, just like humans.
This is a clear acknowledgement that Allah SWT gave animals their own social structures, interactions, and roles within their own communities.
This is a clear acknowledgement that Allah SWT gave animals their own social structures, interactions, and roles within their own communities.
And there is no creature on [or within] the earth or bird that flies with its wings except [that they are] communities like you. We have not neglected in the Register a thing. Then unto their Lord they will be gathered.
Quran 6:38
Quran 6:38
Animals used for experiments are often denied the opportunity to socialize and interact with others, let alone belong to a community. Monkeys, cats, rabbits, and other animals are often forced to spend their days alone in a cage, simply awaiting the next terrifying experiment or procedure.
Animal communities are also disrupted for experimentation. In the past decade alone, U.S. laboratories have imported hundreds of thousands of wild monkeys—often from Asia—for use in experiments. In these countries, hunters abduct baby and adult monkeys from the wild, cram them into shipping crates, and ship them to the U.S. [16]
Abducting wild animals for cruel and unnecessary testing doesn’t just disrupt communities. It also disrupts the delicate, balance of nature that Allah SWT created on Earth.
Abducting wild animals for cruel and unnecessary testing doesn’t just disrupt communities. It also disrupts the delicate, balance of nature that Allah SWT created on Earth.
And the earth We have spread out (like a carpet); set thereon mountains firm and immovable; and produced therein all kinds of things in due balance.
Quran 15:19
Quran 15:19
Allah SWT has subjected all of His creation to humans, not so that we can do whatever we want it but to take care of it as responsible stewards.
Allah is the One Who has subjected the sea for you so that ships may sail upon it by His command, and that you may seek His bounty, and that perhaps you will be grateful. He ˹also˺ subjected for you whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth—all by His grace. Surely in this are signs for people who reflect.
Quran 45:12-13
Quran 45:12-13
The above verses do not give us permission to harm and kill animals just because it’s convenient to do so or because we feel like it. If it did, it would also permit us to pollute the sea with chemicals and garbage, and carelessly burn, pillage, and destroy nature.
To use another analogy, children are subjected to their parents, not so that their parents can abuse and exploit them but to care for them.
To use another analogy, children are subjected to their parents, not so that their parents can abuse and exploit them but to care for them.
To Allah ˹alone˺ belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth. And Allah is Fully Aware of everything.
Quran 4:126
Quran 4:126
Here, the Quran also reminds us that humans do not own anything in His creation, which includes animals. Animals belong to Allah SWT and it is our duty to respect them but also to protect them from unnecessary harm and suffering.
To care for His creation, including animals, is to be grateful for it.
To do otherwise would be to cause corruption in the land:
To care for His creation, including animals, is to be grateful for it.
To do otherwise would be to cause corruption in the land:
Do not spread corruption in the land after it has been set in order. And call upon Him with hope and fear. Indeed, Allah’s mercy is always close to the good-doers.
Quran 7:56
Quran 7:56
Experimenting on animals simply because it’s possible, not because it’s necessary, despite the availability of more effective non-animal methods is an act of arrogance.
And do not walk on the earth arrogantly. Surely you can neither crack the earth nor stretch to the height of the mountains.
Quran 17:37-38
Quran 17:37-38
Many animal experiments are funded by the U.S. government, meaning that Muslim taxpayers in the United States are unwittingly funding acts towards animals that the Prophet PBUH almost certainly would have opposed since we have far more effective, non-animal methods available.
“It is a great sin for man to imprison those animals which are in his power.”
Hadith: Muslim
“May god curse anyone who maims animals.”
Hadith: Bukhari
Hadith: Muslim
“May god curse anyone who maims animals.”
Hadith: Bukhari
Experimenters often force animals like these dogs to inhale or ingest lethal doses of toxic chemicals, causing the animals severe distress and suffering.
“According to the spirit and the overall teachings of Islam, causing avoidable pain and suffering to the defenceless and innocent creatures of God is not justifiable under any circumstances. No advantages and no urgency of human needs would justify the kind of calculated violence which is being done these days to animals.”
Al-Hafiz BA Masri
Al-Hafiz BA Masri
How Muslims Can Help Animals in Experiments
Take action to help animals used for experimentation by urging their elected representatives to stop funding crude and ineffective animal experiments. Phone calls, e-mails, and letters can be effective methods of advocating for good science and useless animal experiments.
If you live in the United States, tell your legislators to support the Research Modernization Deal, which would redirect taxpayer funds from un-Islamic, ineffective animal experiments to innovative non-animal methods.
You can also help animals in laboratories everyday you shop at the store.
Only purchase cosmetics, soaps, detergents, and other household cleaning supplies that were not tested on animals. Check the label on products for designations that say "cruelty-free" or "not tested on animals".
Major brands such as Dove, Suave, Herbal Essences, and Seventh Generation are certified cruelty-free and are widely available at nearly every major store around the world.
If you live in the United States, tell your legislators to support the Research Modernization Deal, which would redirect taxpayer funds from un-Islamic, ineffective animal experiments to innovative non-animal methods.
You can also help animals in laboratories everyday you shop at the store.
Only purchase cosmetics, soaps, detergents, and other household cleaning supplies that were not tested on animals. Check the label on products for designations that say "cruelty-free" or "not tested on animals".
Major brands such as Dove, Suave, Herbal Essences, and Seventh Generation are certified cruelty-free and are widely available at nearly every major store around the world.
References
[1] https://ncats.nih.gov/files/NCATS-factsheet.pdf
[2] https://www.peta.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/PETA-2021-Research-Modernization-Deal.pdf
[3] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12731504/
[4] https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.1002165
[5] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6038816/
[6] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2746847/#b17
[7] https://pharmanewsintel.com/features/alternatives-to-animal-testing-models-in-clinical-and-biomedical-research
[8] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12446492/
[9] https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:142617/FULLTEXT01.p
[10] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5332932/
[11] https://www.peta.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Review-of-Neuropsychology-Experiments-on-Rhesus-Macaques-at-the-National-Institutes-of-Health.pdf
[12] https://www.pnas.org/doi/pdf/10.1073/pnas.2212224119
[13] https://sunnah.com/abudawud:2675
[14] https://grants.nih.gov/grants/olaw/foia-uwm-2013/r_Exhibit%201.pdf
[15] https://animal.law.harvard.edu/news-article/hms-monkey-experiments/
[16] https://www.peta.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Illegal_Monkey_Trade_Factsheet_300-2.pdf
[2] https://www.peta.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/PETA-2021-Research-Modernization-Deal.pdf
[3] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12731504/
[4] https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.1002165
[5] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6038816/
[6] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2746847/#b17
[7] https://pharmanewsintel.com/features/alternatives-to-animal-testing-models-in-clinical-and-biomedical-research
[8] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12446492/
[9] https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:142617/FULLTEXT01.p
[10] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5332932/
[11] https://www.peta.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Review-of-Neuropsychology-Experiments-on-Rhesus-Macaques-at-the-National-Institutes-of-Health.pdf
[12] https://www.pnas.org/doi/pdf/10.1073/pnas.2212224119
[13] https://sunnah.com/abudawud:2675
[14] https://grants.nih.gov/grants/olaw/foia-uwm-2013/r_Exhibit%201.pdf
[15] https://animal.law.harvard.edu/news-article/hms-monkey-experiments/
[16] https://www.peta.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Illegal_Monkey_Trade_Factsheet_300-2.pdf