Iranian Journal of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine

By the ever-increasing discovery of pharmaceutical and chemical substances, their  adverse effects  will be considered too. To evaluate adverse effects, animals are used, and factors like standardization of species and breed, storage condition and biochemical system will be effective for animal selection. In Islamic education, animal issues are important. The principles of keeping animals, using them and prohibition of animal abuse are mentioned in this article. The information were gathered from electronic and non-electronic resources including articles and books. Based on this, the following issues need specific attention:

• 1- Infrastructure of rights: In Hajj and Nahl chapters of Quran (verses 18 and 49) it is mentioned that animals will bow down to God. This is the basis of animal rights.
• 2- Animal rights for keeping them: For this case Sheikh Tousi and martyr Saani mentioned that it is necessary for the owners to feed and water the animals enough.
• 3- The exploitation rights: In the Holy Quran, it is said that the power and the hygiene of the animals must be considered and it is major to exploitation.
• 4- Rights of animal's damages: It is advised to keep and defend the animal species and human beings are forbidden to harm and kill animals. Therefore, from Islam point of view, although animals lack the speech power, they must be treated emotionally and their owners have some responsibilities, too.