Source: TW
I am grateful to Simona Vucu for having recommended to me “The Case of the Animals versus Man Before the King of the Jinn” (10th c.). A few excerpts:
Animals:
``Your vaunted powers of perception & fine discrimination are not unique, for there are animlas with finer senses and more precise discrimination.
The camel, for example, despite his long legs and neck and the elevation of his head in the air, finds his footing along the most arduous and treacherous pathways in the dark of night, which you could not make out and not one of you could see without a lantern, torch, or candle.…
An ass or cow is frequently observed to return to its familiar home when its master has led it away of a path it did not know and left it. Yet there are men who may travel the same road any number of times and still stray from it and lose themselves.
In a flock of sheep and ewes a great number may give birth in a single night and then be driven out to pasture early in the morning not to return until nightfall. Even so it is observed that when the young, a hundred or ore, are released each goes to its dam, without any doubt of on the part of the mother or confusion on the part of the young. WIth humans a month or two or mor must pass before they can distinguish their one mother from their sister, or their father from their brother.
Where then are the superior sense and fine discrimination which you boast of against us? … As far as we can see you have no superiority to boast of, but only unfounded claims, unwarranted allegations, and groundless contentiousness". (Chapter 3)
Jinn:
``We have heard all that has been said, and it is true and correct and everywhere to be seen, night and day. … It was for this very reason that the race of jinn too fled from among men to deserts, wastelands and moors, mountaintops, hills, valleys, or seashores. We too saw their evil ways and vicious mores and shunned the lands in which they dwelt.
Yet despite our circumspection, men never rid themselves of prejudice against us. … They seek protection from us by wearing talismans, amulets, charms, and such. Still no one has ever seen a jinni harm or kill a human, snatch his clothes, steal his belongings, break into his house, pick his pocket, cut his sleeve, mount a raid or a kidnapping. On the contrary, all these are the special distinctions of men in their behaviour toward one another night and day, heedless and unrepentent"
Short thoughts:
- Animals & jinns have genuinely different points of view (their POV is not just human, like in Phaedrus or Aesop)
- There are different types of animals, still it makes sense to speak of “animals” as opposed to humans
- The only superiority of humans is religious
Another quote, by Animals:
``The same is true of your children. Their ignorance and backwardness on the day of their birth is so great that they do not even recognize what is beneficial or advantageous to them. They do not recognize their own interests to the least degree, so far as seeking what is beneficial and avoiding harm are concerned, until they have passed the age of four years, or seven—or twenty! Each day they must acquire new knowledge of fresh culture to the end of their lives.
But we and our young, as soon as they emerge from the womb, from the egg or the hive, are already taught by instinct and aware of what their interests and welfare require, without need of instruction by fathers and mothers. With the chicks. of hens, quail, partridges, mountains quail, and the like, for example, you will find that as soon as they have hatched from their eggs they begin running about immediately, pecking for grain, and fleeing so energetically from one who pursues them that for the most part they cannot be caught. All this is without instruction by fathers or mothers but by the inspiration and guidance of God. It is all an expression of God’s mercy toward His creation" (chapter 28)