Islamic Jurisprudence and Animal Protection: Reclaiming Raḥma as a Constitutional Value in Pakistan

Abstract

This article investigates how Pakistan’s nascent animal protection order translates Qur’anic compassion (raḥma), stewardship (khilāfa), and cosmic balance (mīzān) into enforceable law. Synthesizing 60 scholarly papers, twenty-eight statutes and 17 judicial opinions with interviews of inspectors, clerics, and exporters, it asks: (1) what mechanisms are scriptural principles embedded in Pakistani animal welfare rules, and (2) Islamic framing legitimizes or constrains judicial activism in a conservative polity. The analysis revealed three pathways: legislative grafting of mercy clauses; Fiqh science concordance that converts prophetic maxims into objective pain metrics; and stewardship-based adjudication that elevates animals’ interests to constitutional status. Provinces adopting explicit raḥma recorded an 83 % increase in welfare inspections and a five-fold increase in conviction rates, whereas federal prosecutions under the antiquated 1890 Act stagnated. Clerical and urban respondents endorsed the Qur’an-infused rulings, but exporters feared cost burdens, echoing the Canadian ag-gag pushback. These findings suggest that scriptural anchoring enhances legitimacy yet must be coupled with participatory implementation and trade-aligned incentives. This study enriches the law and offers legislators a roadmap for embedding mercy without sacrificing their competitiveness. They concluded that doctrinal authenticity, empirical metrics, and stakeholder alliances ensure durable reforms for animals and society.