[^2] ﴿ The Holy Qur’an also describes the sense of beauty...

[^2] ﴿ The Holy Qur’an also describes the sense of beauty and splendor that humankind feels of seeing animals as follows: ﴾There is in them a beauty for you when you bring them home for rest and when you drive them forth to pasture. [^3] ﴿ This pleasant and beautiful feeling of human co-existence with the animals has made the Infallible Imams (A.S.) to regard some animals as household residents.

It is related from Imam al-Sadiq (A.S.) about cats: “A cat is among the residents of the household.”[^4] Therefore, the animals, like human beings, enjoy a kind of status and place to the extent that, on the one hand, God accepts their request and prayer[^5] and withholds the punishment of the human beings for their indecent behaviors for animals’ sake,[^6] and on the other hand, human beings are obliged to respect them, as the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) has also viewed the animals as deserving to be greeted ( salam ).

A man went to the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) and greeted him. The Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) said, “Greetings to you (two).” The man said, “O Apostle of Allah (S.A.W.), I am alone.” The Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) said, “Greetings to you and to your horse.”[^7] So also, Imam al-Sadiq (A.S.), not forgetting the animals, raises his hands to the Divine Threshold to pray: I pray in the Divine Presence for you and your beast.

[^8] Similarly, Imam al-Kazim (A.S.) and Imam al-Baqir (A.S.) would raise their hands to pray for solving the problems of some animals, whether that animal was a devouring lion or a little bird like a ringdove or a pigeon.[^9] It is in such circumstances that the animals like other members of a intimate family enjoy certain rights that the head of the family is obliged to fulfill, while being emotionally protected by him/her.[^10] That is why in Islamic texts there is mention about the rights of animals over their owners.