Neither fish nor flesh: re-examining animal agriculture and food security from a Maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah perspective

Zinnira Shaikh

Chapter 4 in Food Security and Islamic Ethics, 2025, pp 89-114 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Food security studies in Muslim countries focus on ways of providing animal products to meet demand, even when this is considerably inefficient in terms of costs and resources. Moreover, current levels of consumption of animal products are unsustainable. Three of the countries with the highest ecological footprint are Muslim countries (McDonald 2015). Moving to plant-based diets would reduce land use by 75%, while producing enough to feed everyone (Ritchie 2021). There is an urgent need to examine whether the practice of animal agriculture is justified given the substantial costs to human health, the climate, and public health relating to pandemics. Although legal rulings permit the consumption of animal products, they do not address this within the current context. Maqāṣid al- Sharīʿah and Islamic ethics derived from it can fill this gap. This chapter will examine the central questions regarding animal agriculture and food security from an Islamic perspective. First, I will explicate relevant principles of Maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah. Using recent research in the area of food and water security and environmental studies, the harms and benefits of animal agriculture will be analysed to ascertain whether it helps preserve or hinder the attainment of the higher objectives of the Sharīʿah.

Keywords: Maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah; Vegetarianism; Veganism; Islamic ethics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035333578
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