Animals in Islamic Paradise and Hell

According to the Qur’an, animals constitute a community comparable to that of mankind (Cattle, 6:38 ); they prostrate themselves before God, as well as angels (the Bee, 16:49 ). The sacred text of Islam mentions animals on numerous occasions and as many as seven suras take their names from those of animals: the sura of the Cow (2), Cattle (6), the Bee (16), the Ant (27), the Spider (29), the Charging Horses (100), and the Elephant (105). The Prophet Muhammad held animals – and some of them especially – in deep affection, and recommended kind behaviour towards them. Some animals played a significant role in his own life: for instance the doves that saved him during his emigration from Mecca to Medina (the hijra), by disguising his presence in the cave, or the spider which sealed the cave’s opening with its web; or further still, the gazelle and the camel which implored his intercession; not to speak of al-Buraq, which carried him by night to Jerusalem and, from there, bore him on his further journey to heaven (mi‘raj). The paper examines the Islamic legends concerning animals in Paradise.