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Milk is a blessing from Allah, and a way of Hindu-Muslim harmony

Friday Khutba by Dr Zahid Aziz, for Lahore Ahmadiyya UK, 5 January 2024

“And surely there is a lesson for you in the cattle: We give you to drink of what is in their bellies — from between the faeces and the blood — pure milk, agreeable to the drinkers. And of the fruits of the palms and the grapes, you obtain from them intoxi­cants and goodly provision. There is surely a sign in this for a people who ponder.” — ch. 16, Al-Nahl, v. 66–67

وَ اِنَّ لَکُمۡ فِی الۡاَنۡعَامِ لَعِبۡرَۃً ؕ نُسۡقِیۡکُمۡ مِّمَّا فِیۡ بُطُوۡنِہٖ مِنۡۢ بَیۡنِ فَرۡثٍ وَّ دَمٍ لَّبَنًا خَالِصًا سَآئِغًا لِّلشّٰرِبِیۡنَ ﴿۶۶﴾ وَ مِنۡ ثَمَرٰتِ النَّخِیۡلِ وَ الۡاَعۡنَابِ تَتَّخِذُوۡنَ مِنۡہُ سَکَرًا وَّ رِزۡقًا حَسَنًا ؕ اِنَّ فِیۡ ذٰلِکَ لَاٰیَۃً لِّقَوۡمٍ یَّعۡقِلُوۡنَ ﴿۶۷﴾

The Quran often appeals to humans to reflect on the world of animals and plants around them and to realise that just as these things provide them with benefits of all kinds for their physical lives, similarly the Quran has been revealed to provide them with benefits for their moral and spiritual lives. The two verses I recited ask us to ponder on the milk-producing cattle and certain fruits of trees, and what all humans gain from them for nourishment. The closing words, “There is surely a sign in this for a people who ponder”, a people who use their ‘aql, clearly indicate that only those people can learn a lesson from these phenomena of nature who study them thoroughly. Gaining knowledge of how the world around us works is crucial and indispensable if we want to find out why we must act on the teachings of the revelation sent by God.

The first verse which I recited above came to my attention recently when I read a speech made in 1942 in Urdu by the famous Lahore Ahmadiyya scholar and missionary Maulana Abdul Haq Vidyarthi in Kashmir to a large gathering of Muslims and Hindus. The topic of the speech was unity and harmony between Hindus and Muslims. The Maulana selected this verse because, as you know, the cow is regarded as sacred in Hinduism, and it is one of the cattle which gives milk. In this khutba I will give in my own words the main points of the Maulana’s speech. He begins by noting that the verse begins with the words: “And surely there is a lesson for you in the cattle”. The word for “lesson” is ‘ibrat, which is commonly used in Urdu as well. It comes from the word ‘ubūr, which again is commonly used in Urdu and means to cross, i.e. to cross a river or valley, going from one side to the other. So how has it come to mean learning a lesson? When you learn a lesson, you change your position, belief or opinion from what it was before and cross over from that to another place.

The Maulana then tells us that in the books of Hinduism a clear and persuasive argument, which is understandable by everyone, is described as: “Cow-dung is cow-dung and milk is milk”. This description means that a strong argument is one which makes you see the difference between right and wrong as clearly as the difference between cow-dung and milk. Obviously, anyone, of any level of knowledge or educa­tion, can tell the difference between cow-dung and cow-milk. The verse of the Quran I read above also mentions cow-dung and milk, and how it is milk which we require.

What we learn from cattle is that despite their strength, size and weight, they are subordinate to humans. You can see even a young boy, with a stick, leading a whole row of camels or cows behind him. The only reason why humans rule over cattle, and cattle just follow and obey them, is that humans possess knowledge and intelligence. That distinguishes humans over animals, even though humans and animals are the same form of life. Similarly, among humans too, those nations which lack education and learning become enslaved by other nations who excel them in knowledge. Ignorance even makes some humans into slaves or worshippers of animals.

The Quran says: “And surely there is a lesson for you in the cattle”. Human civilisation is very much based on the use of animals, who meet all kinds of needs of humans. However, man does not need to express gratitude and thankfulness to the animals for doing all this for him. No animal came to humans and said: This is how I can help you. It was humans who used their power of thinking to see what benefit they could get from animals. Humans then struggled hard to control and domesticate the cattle, and worked out ways of increasing how much benefit like milk they could get from them. So the Quran requires us first of all to thank the Being Who created cattle to be a blessing for mankind. Then we are required to thank Him for granting us the power of reason and intelligence using which we worked out how to tame and control them. The word for cattle in the Quran is an‘ām, and this comes from the word ni‘mat or blessing. There are countless human needs that are fulfilled through cattle: milk, butter, warm clothing and shoes, transport, and the medicines that are derived from their organs. In our own times, long after the Maulana made this speech, animal organs have been transplanted into humans. All this cannot be the result of blind chance or accidental, but the work of a Creator Who possesses knowledge and wisdom. Belief in the existence of such a God is the first matter which unites Hindus and Muslims. We both agree on this point.

Then we must remember that God has created these blessings equally for all humans. The cow gives milk equally to Hindu priests who worship the cow and to people of other religions such as Muslims who eat cow meat. A cow does not have a higher market value and price because it belongs to an upper caste Hindu. In fact, a cow from an Australian or British dairy is more expensive than a cow in India belonging to a Pandit because it yields more milk. So considering that God does not discriminate and show prejudice between Hindus and Muslims, and God’s blessings serve Hindus and Muslims without distinction, it does not befit Hindus and Muslims to show hatred towards each other and to plan ways of hurting and injuring each other. If they behave in this way towards each other, then according to the Quran they are lower than animals because they have not learnt a lesson from animals.

Hindus and Muslims have been created by the same God. He took equal interest in their welfare. The best of minds, and the best and most beautiful of bodies, have been bestowed by Him on both Hindus and Muslims, as if they are sons of the same father. No father ever likes his sons to fight with one another and to kill one another; in fact, he is distressed by such discord. Therefore, God, Allah or Permatma, is not at all happy and pleased to see inter-communal riots between Hindus and Muslims.

Within every animal body there are two kinds of processes taking place: one for producing what that animal requires to maintain its own life, and the other for producing things which it can provide to others to help them to live. From the blood circulating inside it, it produces milk. In humans we see that milk is produced in the mother’s breasts even before the baby is born. It is not produced as a result of any effort by the baby or in return for any work done by the baby. It is due to God’s attribute of being Rahmān, the One Who is Beneficent, Who provides us with our necessities even without any effort by us to get those necessities. However, humans, as opposed to other animals, do not only have a body but they have a soul as well. So God Who provides humans with mother’s milk or animal milk to nourish the body, also provides the resources for the sustenance of the human soul. Those resources take the form of revelation or knowledge coming from God to humans. This is the unani­mous testimony of the revealed books of all religions, and Hindus accept it too. Muslims believe in the coming of ilhām or revelation from God and Hindus believe in the coming of giyān or knowledge from God. This is another matter of agreement or unity between them.

The verse I quoted says about cattle: “We give you to drink of what is in their bellies — from between the faeces and the blood — pure milk, agreeable to the drinkers.” Revelation from God is like that milk. Wrong, misguided and dangerous ideas may be compared to faeces and blood. What is faeces in this sense? Giving other beings and things the same place as God, and indulging in immoral behaviour and practices is like faeces. What is blood? Cruelty to fellow beings, violence against them, blood-shedding, forcibly taking the right of others, is like the blood mentioned here. The Quran makes clear to us what is faeces and what is blood, which we must avoid, and what is milk which we must drink for our survival. The cattle consume food and water and from these they produce these three very different things, faeces, blood and milk, all separate. The Quran likewise tells humans for their spiritual development, what is faeces, what is blood and what is milk, separating them entirely.

Towards the end of his speech, Maulana Abdul Haq Vidyarthi says that in the Hindu scriptures, the Vedas, there is frequent mention of a cow which gives abundant milk and which shall never be killed. The holy men of the Vedas pray to become the servants of that cow. In one such prayer, the worshipper describes the cow as being milked by someone having lovely hands, and says that the vessel containing that milk is gleaming brightly. But the prayer really is not about a physical cow and its milk. As the Quran says, “And surely there is a lesson for you in the cattle”. The lesson is that the cow giving abundant milk is revelation from God and the lovely hands milking that cow belong to the Holy Prophet Muhammad. This pure milk is making its vessel, the Quran, shine brightly. When it is said that it is a cow which shall never be killed, the meaning is that it will forever be nourishing mankind with its milk; in other words, the Quran is the last Book of God which will endure forever as a sufficient guide for humanity.

May Allah enable all mankind to find and drink this pure milk, called لَّبَنًا خَالِصًا سَآئِغًا لِّلشّٰرِبِیۡنَ and to recognise and avoid the faeces and the blood, Ameen.

Website: www.aaiil.uk