After a long and rather frustrating conversation, here is what I learnt about his worldview: "If something is explicitly permitted in the Quran, it is by definition not immoral". The problem is, there are immoral things stated in the Quran, and people like him will likely keep their head in the sand about it.
In the discussion, the following argument was repeated multiple time:
Me: Do you agree that killing animals and eating them is not necessary for living a healthy life?
Him: Yes.
Me: Do you agree that it is immoral to kill animals unnecessarily?
Him: Yes.
Me: Then, doesn't it follow that killing animals for eating is immoral?
Him: No.
At this point I am perplexed. This is as straight forward a logic as it gets.
Me: How does that not follow logic?
Him: Because it is permitted in Quran. Quran explicitly states that we can eat 4 species of animals.
After 4 or 5 rounds of me walking him through this logic and asking him how he is not contradicting himself, he finally made me change the statement
"It is immoral to kill animals unnecessarily"
to
"It is immoral to kill animals unnecessarily unless they belong to those 4 specific species"
After that the argument turned to why it is immoral to kill some species and not these 4. His answer was because the Quran says so. According to him, his entire morality is just based on what the Quran says, not based on any principles or knowledge or thought.
During the discussion, he also tried to justify eating animals the following ways:
- If you look at the record, there is not shortage of animals we eat, whereas the rest of the animals are dyeing out. Why do you think that is? Because god has his blessing on these animals and he is providing them for us.
- When I pointed out that the only reason they are not in shortage is that we are breeding them, he changed the subject.
Him: There may be [additional] health benefits to eating animals.
I showed him the Academy of nutrition and dietetics statement about nutritional adequacy of begin a vegan, and asked him
Me: Do you agree that killing animals and eating them is not necessary for living a healthy life?
Him: Yes
Me: Then how is it not a contradiction with your previous statement "There may be health benefits to eating animals. "
Him: Because it is permitted in Quran.
I hope the reader can understand why a discussion filled with arguments like these can be frustrating. What really pains me is that this person is my colleague, an Engineering professor in a University who is supposed to be teaching students how to think systematically. Unfortunately, this is not the only Engineering professor I have had such conversations with. Our discussions about teaching methods and how to improve teaching outcomes also follow similarly frustrating discussions.
This is one of the many occasions which make me reflect on where I am working, who my colleagues are how important it is to take an active role in designing my career and being in a place where I can respect my colleagues.
