DAIRY
What we know today as dairy products is originally the mother cow’s food to her baby calf. Just like humans, cows mate and get into pregnancy that lasts around 9 months and produces milk only for her offspring in which she has strong maternal instincts for.
Going back to what we know today, we barely think of how these dairy products end up in the stores and on our plates. We even trust these products enough to let them inside the bodies of our new born babies and children.
So what’s wrong with the dairy industry and its effects on our world today?
ANIMAL use & ABUSE
Though there are a number of other animals raised for milk production, cows are the main animal raised to produce milk. Like mammals, cows produce milk when they’re pregnant or have a newborn to nourish. In the dairy industry, in order for the cow to get pregnant, the semen is first forcibly collected from the bull and then inserted into the cow through artificial insemination (manually inserting the semen into the cow’s uterus). After pregnancy the babies are taken away from their mother, so that the baby doesn't take away from the milk production. If the baby is a female cow, they grow to live the same fate as their mother. If it’s a male, they are sent to slaughter to become veal meat. This evil cycle is repeated over and over again, until the mother cow is dried out and gets sent to slaughter for cheap meat since she’s no longer beneficial for the dairy industry. That happens when the mother cow is around 4-5 years old, when cows usually live to 20-25 years. And this is just a few of the regulations amongst many others that happen in this industry.
In Islam, this process is considered non permissible, since not only physical but also mental harm is forbidden. As mentioned in this hadith:
It is related from Abdul Rahman bin Abdullah that a group of Companions were once on a journey with the Prophet (PBUH) and he left them for a while. During his absence, they saw a bird with its two young, and they took the young ones from the nest. The mother bird was circling above in the air, beating its wings in grief, when the Prophet came back. He said, "Who has hurt the feelings of this bird by taking its young? Return them to her." (Muslim)
The process of artificial insemination inside a dairy farm - Credit: Havva Zorlu / We Animals Media
Just like this mother bird, cows grief over their taken away children. Even farmers will admit that they “cry for days” and scream in agony until they get their babies back. After reading this hadith, do you think our Prophet and our Islamic teachings would agree with these regulations? Is dairy really considered a Halal product if that much suffering is involved?
Even one of the greatest Imams had something to say when it came to dairy:
-“Mothers with young are not milked except what is in excess of their children’s sustenance. They are not milked while the offspring are left to die of emaciation.” – Imam Al Shāfi’, Al-Umm (Beirut: Dār al-Ma’rifah, 1990), 5:510-11
This scholar saw the importance of the mother-child bond in 760 AD! His view was that the offspring of the animal eats first then if there’s any leftover, one could take some. Unlike what happens today.
Many Muslims will be quick to cite the Quran claiming milk is mentioned there so it is okay to consume. The milk mentioned in the Quran bears no resemblance whatsoever to what we have today… When God speaks about food in the Quran; He’s referring to it “as it should be” or in its purest, natural state. Not the milk that we consume today which is, on the contrary, totally away from its natural state and full of suffering.
Cruelty is strongly condemned over and over in the Quran and the Hadith of The Prophet. Specifically, cruelty to animals is condemned and punishments are provided for it, just as cruelty to humans is punished. The Quran states: “Whoever has done an atom’s weight of good, it will be seen. Whoever has done an atom’s weight of bad, it will be seen.” (Quran 99:7-8)
In our day and age, we can easily let go of dairy milk. We can easily cut off this cycle of cruelty and injustice, and replace it with the many other plant-based alternatives.
The messenger of Allah (pbuh) said: "Whoever is kind to the creatures of God, is kind to himself." (Hadith Bukhari)
HEALTH ABUSE
How natural is it for us human beings to consume dairy? While most infants can digest lactose, many people begin to develop lactose malabsorption—a reduced ability to digest lactose—after infancy. Experts estimate that about 75 percent of the world's population are lactose intolerant.
Milk and other dairy products are the top source of saturated fat in most diets around the world, contributing to heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Studies have also linked dairy to an increased risk of breast, ovarian, and prostate cancers.
Though milk is known as a source of calcium, milk contains way more hidden ingredients like pus, various hormones like estrogen and sometimes even blood. This is because most cows' breasts catch infections over the years of constantly getting milked.
The good news is, calcium and other nutrients found in milk can also be found in various plants and seeds, minus the harm dairy causes! So we can totally let go of dairy.
Islam focuses very much on keeping good health and avoiding that which harms us or others.
“Eat and drink healthy and be not prodigal.” (Quran 7:31)
The messenger of Allah said: “No blessing other than faith is better than well being” (Related by Ibn Majah following Abu Bakr)
“Oh, ye messengers! Eat of the good things (tayyibat) and do righteous deeds. Surely, I know what you do” (Quran 23:51)
“And make not your own hands contribute to (your) own destruction (harm).” (Quran 2:195)
Let us not make our own hands contribute to our own destruction and let’s make the switch.
For example, high cow’s milk intake is associated with increased risk for bone fractures and death, according to a new study in the British Medical Journal (Michaëlsson K, Wolk A, Langenskiöld S, et al. Milk intake and risk of mortality and fractures in women and men). Researchers followed 61,433 women and 45,339 men for more than 20 years and 11 years, respectively.
Among women, those who consumed three or more glasses of milk per day had a 60 percent increased risk for developing a hip fracture and a 16 percent increased risk for developing any bone fracture. These results are similar to previous studies showing no protective effect of increased milk consumption on fracture risk (Feskanich D, Willett WC, Colditz GA. Calcium, vitamin D, milk consumption, and hip fractures: A prospective study among postmenopausal women).
Additionally among women, for each glass of milk consumed, risk of dying from all causes increased by 15 percent, from heart disease by 15 percent, and from cancer by 7 percent. For the women who consumed three or more glasses of milk per day, compared with less than one glass, risk of dying increased by 93 percent. Men had a 10 percent increased risk of dying when consuming three or more glasses of milk per day, compared with less than one glass.
ENVIRONMENTAL ABUSE
Meat and dairy provide just 18% of calories and 37% of protein, despite using the vast majority – 83% – of farmland and producing 60% of agriculture's direct greenhouse gas emissions. Half of the world’s ice-and-desert-free land is used for agriculture. Shifting away from animal agriculture completely would free up more than 3 billion hectares of land, equivalent to the size of Africa. Transport typically accounts for less than 1% of beef’s GHG emissions, less than 10% for most other foods. (source)
More than three-quarters (77%) of global soy is fed to livestock for meat and dairy production. Most of the rest is used for biofuels, industry or vegetable oils. Just 7% of soy is used directly for human food products such as tofu, soy milk, edamame beans, and tempeh.(source)
According to the Quran, preserving the environment is a religious duty in addition to a social obligation, and is not considered an optional matter.
Dairy milk has significantly higher impacts than the plant-based alternatives across all metrics:
A Muslim is commanded to economize water use. Allah has declared water as the basis and origin of life:
“We made from water every living thing....” (Surah 21, verse 30).
The traditions of Prophet Muhammad emphasize conserving water and not wasting it. The Prophet (pbuh) said:
"Do not waste water even if you are on a running river" (Sunan Ibn Maja, Hadith 425).
Is it really worth it to waste all this land and water while other sustainable alternatives are available?
Five billion people will face at least one month of water shortages by 2050, according to the first in a series of United Nations reports on how climate change is affecting the world's water resources.
Four billion people already experience severe water scarcity for at least one month each year. Over two billion people live in countries where water supply is inadequate.
Today, dairy is one of the main reasons for deforestation. Swiping away lands and trees as big as cities every year, which is hugely contradicting the Islamic teachings. The Islamic attitude towards environment and natural resource conservation is not only based on prohibition of over-exploitation but also on sustainable development. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) encouraged the planting of trees and the cultivation of agriculture which are considered as good acts.
The Prophet (pbuh) also said, “The world is beautiful and verdant, and verily God, the exalted, has made you His stewards in it, and He sees how you acquit yourselves” (Saheeh Muslim).
Knowing these facts today, on which side would our Beloved Prophet be standing on? The suffering of both animals and humans around the world is all in our hands.
We vote for these industries contributing to this suffering with our money. We the consumers, we as Muslims, can only make the change.
Page cover photo credit: Victoria de Martigny / We Animals Media
The following initiative includes hadiths from different sects and religious opinions respecting all point of views. Readers are encouraged to follow with the ones they prefer depending on their beliefs.