The Animals' Lawsuit Against Humanity: An Illustrated 10th Century Iraqi Ecological Fable

Our Tri-Faith Dialogue group read this book for our book club. It was also discussed during October Peace Month activities at a local universities. It is well-written, and a tale supported by the three Abrahamic faiths (Christians, Jews, and Muslims). The arguments made by the animals and the attitudes of the invader humans are eye-opening, and will make you think about how we treat all animals. The book acknowledges that we do use animals for our needs (food, clothing, etc.). It was written in the 14th century but is very relevant to our lives today. PETA may not like it since it does not condemn the use of animals to need human needs, but we can and should consider just how we use animals and why, and definitely reassess how we treat ALL animals. It has no conflict with Islam (I am Muslim) because we are told in the Qur-an and in our hadiths that we should never kill an animal (even an ant!) out of anger or vengence. A book people should read!!!The Animals' Lawsuit Against Humanity: An Illustrated 10th Century Iraqi Ecological Fable

This is a book that people of all ages can enjoy. One of the best that deals with humans and animals.Illustrations are good . Translation in English has its own flavor fun to read and once you start it you want to finish it without interruptions. A classic as thought provoking as " Animal Farm " and as much fun as" Jungle Book" .

I really liked this author's writing style. It was descriptive and flowery without being burdensome to read. It was a quick read, very easy to understand. I enjoyed the illustrations, too. I highly recommend this book to anyone with kids as it is a great way to talk about proper way to treat all God's creatures.

sent as a gift

It is a wonderful example, from long ago, of the cooperation among three religions.

I enjoyed reading this moving, magical, and thought-provoking tale. It is written with admirable clarity, somehow avoiding repetitiveness even though there are seven tales of seven emissaries enlisting the help of the other seven classes of animals. Whereas in the original (according to the introduction) individual animals and humans weren't given personalities, here they are, which is surely an improvement. Also added, according to the author Anson Laytner is the king’s speech at the end which, although a more contemporary interpretation, seems perfectly in keeping with the original spirit of the fable. Also, there are many beautiful illustrations.

great book, illustrations, and style of writing

The idea of a medieval book written in Iraq and read from India to Europe is delightful. But this is not that book. I would almost give it two stars for the colorful illustrations, but the translation is just that bad.It seems that a large number of animal rights researchers and ecologists have been duped by this "translation". In fact this book bears only a slight resemblance to the medieval parable, which can be found online, translated by a certain Dawson, under the title "Iḫwān aṣ-ṣafā' Ikhwánus-Safá; or, Brothers of Purity". If you read that book you will understand the extent of the deception. This modern publication ends with the king of djinn finding the humans guilty of mistreating the animals, but in the medieval text, the king finds the humans not guilty! For those not willing to read the original, here is a quick summary of that final section:The king of djinn explain the limitless spirits and angels that exist above the earth, of which both humans and animals are ignorant - this much appears in the Fons Vitae edition.The rest is omitted: The humans argue that God has promised them Heaven. The animals object that God has also promised them Hell if they misbehave. The humans counter that those who are saints will be guaranteed Paradise. The animals can find no counter-argument to this, and admit that this is a unique grant by God, but the king of djinn asks them how saints behave. None of the humans know how saints behave, but the king of djinn concludes that they have recognized that they need to find out, and therefore requests that the animals obey the humans who are presumably about to embark on a quest for sainthood.The Fons Vitae edition replaces this entire thing with the following nonsense: The king of djinn explains that "all you need is love", and finds the humans guilty of enslaving the animals. He warns that if they don't set the animals free, they will suffer global warming and pollution. The humans are all ashamed because the animals are better than they are. They agree to get along from now on. The story concludes that it was finished "in the year 5765 of the Jewish counting, in the year 1425 of the Islamic counting, or 2004 in the Common Era." Yes, the "Common Era". A discussion of the teachings of Jesus was removed from the Fons Vitae "translation" and the words "Jesus" or "Christ" appear nowhere in this edition.It should be obvious that the original story provides exactly the wisdom we would expect to find in a medieval fable, whereas the modern one is a fabrication that transposes its own values onto the past story. I will not be buying any more books from Fons Vitae.

Great service, wonderful story

A gem of a book. I wish they had not changed it from the original version though!