ABSTRACT
Recent studies of the place of animals in Islamic religious culture have often taken the form of general surveys of the scriptural data, prophetic practice, and the place of animals in the classics of Muslim literature. Beginning with a synthetic overview of this genre, this paper will tentatively identify some reasons for the theological and Sufi treatment of the animal kingdom, and propose its re-reading as an integral component of an ‘Ishmaelite’ theology of the oppressed.
