The Estrangement of the Sunnah among the Later Generations:

One telling proof of how alien the Sunnah has become in our times—and of how little the people of learning and fatwa know of it—is the answer published in a widely circulated Islamic magazine to the question: “Will animals be resurrected…?” The reply read as follows:

“Imam al-Alusi said in his Tafsir: ‘In this matter—i.e., certain kinds of animals—there is no reliable text from the Book or the Sunnah that can be depended upon to show that any creatures other than the two accountable species (thaqalayn, humans and jinn) among beasts and birds will be gathered on the Day of Resurrection.’ ”

This lone citation was all the respondent relied upon—a truly astonishing stance that reveals the degree to which scholars, let alone others, have neglected the science of the Sunnah. For more than one authentic hadith explicitly states that animals will indeed be resurrected and that justice will be done between them. Among them is the hadith recorded by Muslim in his Sahih: “You will certainly render the rights to their owners until even the hornless sheep will take retaliation from the horned sheep.” It is also authentically reported from Ibn ʿUmar and others that, when the unbeliever witnesses this retribution, he will say, “Would that I were dust!” (Q 78:40).