I DIRITTI DEGLI ANIMALI NELL’ISLAM TRA VOCI CONTEMPORANEE E FONDAMENTI TRADIZIONALI (ANIMAL RIGHTS IN ISLAM BETWEEN CONTEMPORARY VOICES AND TRADITIONAL SOURCES)

The essay examines the acknowledgement of animal rights in the Islamic contemporary context, starting from some recent studies both of Western and Arabic-speaking areas, which, depending on the particular individual cases, support or discuss the issue of Qurʾānic anthropocentrism and the consequent subordination of the animals to man.The focus is on a selection of Arab authors –ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Šayḫalī, Aḥmad Yāsīn al-Qarāla, Aḥmad ʿUbayd al-Kubaysī, ʿAbd al-Wāḥid Bušdāq, and Ǧaʿfar Murtaḍā al-ʿĀmilī – belonging to a trend that can be defined as “apologetic”: all, in fact, insist, despite their different approaches, on certain fundamental Islamic values –rifq or “gentleness”, iḥsān or “charity”, raḥma or “mercy” – thus contriving, while advocating the cause of animals, to reaffirm the excellence of the Islamic vision and its superiority to other cultural traditions.