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their species, and apathy towards their enemies, the love of their males towards their females, their sensibility towards their benefits and injuries, and the treatment of their sick, all create wonder, from which we are certain that they have senses and other means of knowledge."
Now, since matter and material bodies are regarded by the author of Al Bayan as incapable of feeling sensa. tions and performing the functions of understanding, and are looked upon as the door-ways, or windows, of the goul, and since the animals are possessed of the power of feeling and knowing, so accurately described by him, it is certain that he regards the animals also as endowed with souls. The Qur'an* itself puts the matter more emphatically than the author of Al Bayan, for it says :
"Dost thou not perceive that all creatures both in heaven and earth praise God; and the birds also, extending their wings ?"
What is to happen to this vast army of 'creatures' and birds, who praise Life (God) with extended wings? According to the author of ' A Dictionary of Islam,'
"It is believed that at the resurrection the irrational animals will be restored to life, that they may be brought to judgment, and then annihilated."
But the Qur'an itself does not support the latter half of the statement, and points out,
“There is no kind of beast on earth, nor fowl which flieth with its wings, but the same is a people like unto you; we have not omitted anything in the book of our decrees : then unto their Lord shall they return."f
The italics are ours. Commenting upon the popular Muslim belief about the fate of the beasts, Sale observes:I
* See chapter XXIV. See chapter VI. See The Koran,' by Sale, Preliminary Dis. Sect. IV.
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