The protection of the animal rights is the people’s duty because the animals cannot read the Qur’an and interpret to learn their rights, yet the people can. However, being the protectors should not imply superiority. Sarah Tlili claims that the role of the men is not to be the representatives of God among “nonhuman beings” (136). She ignores the idea of the authority of the people among the animals by discussing two concepts called taskhir and tadhlil. Richard C. Foltz believes that the animals are created for the people and the people are superior to the animals because the Qur’an depicts the man as “God’s best make” (15). He believes in the need of the application of ijtihad to the determination of the animal rights (42). Foltz believes today’s…show more content… Foltz believes the Qur’an “depicts humans as occupying a special and privileged status” and he cites the Qur’an:” Certainly, we have created Man in the best make” (qtd. in Foltz 15). This idea indicates the people’s superiority over the animals in the Qur’an. Foltz argues that the Qur’an claims certain animals were created for the benefits of the people such as “warmth”, “food”, “carrying the load and that “it is against God’s will” not to use the “domestic animals” for these benefits of the people (16). These domestic animals are the “an’am”. Foltz puts the people to the center as the superior beings that God created and interprets the creation of other animals as a gift to the people. The criteria Foltz uses to claim the superiority of the people is unclear. Foltz improves his claim by explaining that God did not create the earth for the “sake of the humans alone” (15). Even though he believes in the superiority of the people, he acknowledges that earth does not belong solely to the people in the context of the Qur’an. The idea of the serviceability of the an’am takes another step with Foltz’s assertion because he claims it would be “against God’s will” for the people to not to use an’am for their benefits. Foltz and Tlili agree that it is God’s grace that the animals are serviceable to the people while Foltz also believes that it is the purpose of their creation. The scholars have a disagreement about the superiority of the people and about the people’s stance in the Qur’an, Foltz believes that the Qur’an clearly mentions about the people as “God’s best creation”, while Tlili believes that the people have no “authority” nor “dominion” over the
