Animal ethics: a critical approach to the Ethics of Qajar period travel writers, The case of animal slaughter

The Qajar period is one of the most important periods in Iran's contemporary history and the peak of the presence of Europeans in Iran. During this period, European travel writers visited Iran as personal journey and sometimes as delegations from European superpowers. These people have included tourists, doctors, political and economic figures and even religious missionaries. In their reports, travel writers have pointed out the violation of animal rights, for example, they have quoted reports of animal slaughter during Muharram and Eids and considered this deprivation of life as one of the cases of violation of animal right  .This research aims to answer the question, is this accusation and  misunderstanding of travel writers of animal rights violation true? This hypothesis is followed that the travel writers, first of all, have expressed these reports with bad intentions. Secondly, due to the intertwining of jurisprudence, theology and  ethics in the Islamic tradition, it is not possible to create a clear boundary between moral and theological arguments in the case of animal slaughter, and on the other hand, Islam allows humans to use animals, but it has established rights and manners for animals. It is obligatory for everyone to observe it. The method of writing this article; Descriptive, based on the reports of Qajar period travel writers, and then analytical method, based on Islamic principles, in response to the misconceptions of travel writers. This article considers it important to remove this doubt and the accusation of the European travel writers against the Muslim Iranians of the Qajar period.

Keywords:

: travel writers , Qajar period , Animal rights , Islamic Ethics , Islamic approach