from peta

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This extraordinary work is an ancient tale of contemporary value, translated by a compassionate hand under royal patronage and with the help of religious scholars. It's moral lesson and it's call for human self-examination are current. The 21st century needs a King Bersaf and a new ethics that abolishes the horrors of human slavery which debases our species.

-- Ingrid Newkirk, executive director
People for the Ethical Treatment of Aanimals

A Word From Merritt Clifton, editor of Animal People

Caring, thinking humans around the world have been troubled at how most humans have treated animals for as ong as written literature has existed. The earliest writings meant to motivate other humans to change their ways attempted to make kindness towardanimals a sacred duty, as was incorporated into Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Judaism, and often mentioned in the literature ofother religions.

Unfortunately, religiousproscriptions failed under economicpressure. Animals were abused anyway, without recourse in thislifetime.

The Animals' Lawsuit Against Humanity is described on theback cover as "A Muslim Sufi work of10th century Iraq, translated bya rabbi into Hebrew, and rendered into Latin for a Christian king." It emerged from a time and place where secular law was just becoming established to reinforce the principles of religious teaching, in a manner that could be applied uniformly across the manycultural divisions that might exist within an empire.

The Animals' Lawsuit Against Humanity made the case, through
fable, that animals should be recognized as possessing certain inalienable rights, guaranteed by social contract, which could be enforced in secular courts. It was almost a millennia ahead of its time, but fortunately it has now bee "translated from the popular Hebrew version by Jews into English, edited by a Christian and illustrated exquisitely by a Muslim woman from India under the patronage of a Saudi princess," just in time to help provide the cultural foundation for the rapidly growing pro-animal movement in the Middle East and Central Asia.

Those of us from elsewhere can enjoy it too; but it will have most special value to the people who recently induced Turkey topass one of the most progressive animal protection laws in the world, founded the first humane societies in Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan, and sustain a humane movement in Pakistan despite virtual isolation
from the international humane community.

We know people abroad who could use copies of this book by the case. How to get it to them, though is a heck of a problem.

The Story Behind the Story

What do you get when you combine three rabbis, a Pakistani artist, a Saudi princess, an American Muslim publisher and a group of 10^thcentury Iraqi Sufis? A lawsuit.

Specifically, The Animals’ Lawsuit Against Humanity, a new retelling of an ancient fable translated and expanded by two Seattle rabbis, Anson Laytner and Dan Bridge. They never actually met the third rabbi in the story, since he lived in the Middle Ages, but without him none of this would have ever come about.

The story has its distant origins in India but the first written version was createdmore than 1000 years ago by members of a Sufi order from around Basra in what is now Iraq.

When a storm wrecked a group of humans, representatives of all the 70 races and nations on Earth on an island in an unknown sea where every kind of animal lived in peace and harmony, they assumed their right to round up the hoofed animals and treat them as beasts of burden.

Naturally, feeling themselves to be the crown of creation, most of these people felt that this was nothing more than their due and the natural way of things. And just as naturally, the animals did not. The hooved draft animals, birds of prey, swarming insects, carnivores, and more -- and the representatives of the 70 groups of humanity -- make articulate arguments to the King of the Spirits.

The Hebrew version dates to 1316 C.E. when a French king, Charles of Anjou, had it translated adapted by Rabbi Kalonymus ben Kalonymus, who also rendered it into Latin.

Laytner said he assumes that the medieval rabbi replaced Quranic refernces with Biblical ones and may have made other changes, as well. Over the centuries there were a number of versions of the Hebrew story circulating and, he said, it was popular in European Jewish communities into the early 20^th century. Anson Laytner learned of the tale while he was working on his thesis at the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati two decades ago. He found an old volume with the story in Hebrew in library.

About nine years ago he and his friend Rabbi Dan Bridge decided to work on improving their Hebrew and he remembered the story, so they agreed to work on translating it together.

“We started looking at it and it was an interesting premise,” said Bridge, “so we said, ‘Why don’t we work on this?’” The process was not always easy. For one thing the 14^th century Hebrew text had some obscure and archaic language.

Once they had finished translating it as best they could and decided it was worth publishing, it needed quite a bit of additional work – done in large part by Laytner, who has written other books, though none quite like this one.

“The book, in its original form, categorizes people and it categorizes animals, and uses broad generalizations to describe both,” said Rabbi Bridge. “It wouldn’t have been acceptable in today’s society, so we started talking about ways of dealing with it and he did some writing, and came up with a different ending, as well.”

When a storm wrecked a group of humans, representatives of all the 70 races and nations on Earth on an island in an unknown sea where every kind of animal lived in peace and harmony, they assumed their right to round up the hoofed animals and treat them as beasts of burden.

Naturally, feeling themselves to be the crown of creation, most of these people felt that this was nothing more than their due and the natural way of things. And just as naturally, the animals did not.

Laytner said he expanded the Spirit King’s verdict by adding a speech in which he laid out “admonishments or warnings to give to the people, so their descendants would know if they’d gone back on their word.” He said that while he did not necessarily agree with logic of the verdict, there was really no choice.

“Just based on the strength of the case, the animals should have won but, obviously they couldn’t have won because things in this world are what they are,” he said.

Bridge said despite being more than a millennium old, the tale has a great relevance to today’s readers.

“It touches on an issue that people are talking about, that is the treatment of animals – that is a hot topic these days,” he said. “You can certainly also extrapolate from that, how we treat one another. Then there is also, especially in Anson’s adaptation of it, an environmental twist and looking not just toward saving the relationship and the animals that we live with, but the land and the earth we live on.”

Once they had redone the story for a more modern audience (while retaining the tone of the original as much as reasonably possible), they began to search for a publisher. This new version, has been published by the nonprofit publisher Fons Vitae, a non profit, charitable foundation and refereed publishing house headed by a “Kenucky blue-blood” woman who has converted to Sufi Islam.

Fons Vitae's raison d’etre is to make works from the world's great spiritual traditions available. The publisher enlisted the support of a Saudi princess, who commissioned the book’s illustrations by Kulsum Begum, a Muslim Indian woman artist.

The Animals’ Lawsuit Against Humanity is the product of more than a decade of effort. Along the way they fleshed out a number of the charaters, gave them names and updated the ending to include more of the current era’s concerns for not only the treatment of animals but the care and fate of the Earth itself.

What is, in many ways most revealing about this story is just how timeless it remains and how urgent the concerns of the first millennium writers remain at this critical juncture in the fate of the world. The message rings true from across the vast sands of time and space – that we are all part of a singe whole, wrapped up together in the fabric of Life itself, and that we tear ourselves away from it at our peril.

The Olympian, Olympia Wash. Sept. 11, 2005

Mistreated animals get day in court
The Bookmonger

BY BARBARA MCMICHAEL

"The Animals' Lawsuit Against Humanity" translated by Rabbis Anson Laytner and Dan Bridge, Fons Vitae, $14.95.

Because of its eloquence, its charm and most of all its moral authority, "The Animals' Lawsuit Against Humanity" is a Muslim tale that has endured for a thousand years.

Now it has been translated anew and brought back into print in an adaptation by Seattle rabbis Anson Laytner and Dan Bridge.

Before I get into the substance of this venerable fable, I'd like to share the remarkable story behind the story.

Although there is evidence that the seeds of the story derive from the Indian subcontinent, the tale was first set down, in Arabic, by members of an Islamic Sufi order in what is now Iraq. Eventually it was translated into Hebrew by a rabbi, and once again translated into Latin for a Christian king in 14th century France.

In the late 19th century, the work became popular among European Jews, and was translated into Yiddish, German and Spanish.

In short, the story addresses environmental and animal rights issues that have been perennial concerns for humankind.

Now, Rabbi Laytner and Rabbi Bridge have translated "The Animals' Lawsuit Against Humanity" from Hebrew into English. Before being published, the text was edited by a Christian. The fetching illustrations are the work of a South Asian Muslim artist whose patron is a Saudi princess.

In this tale, a group of animals subjected to abusive human domination seeks justice by taking its case before the respected Spirit King.

The humans assemble a defense based on what they perceive to be their God-given superiority -- but when does that perception lead to self- aggrandizement?

Both sides argue their points with the deftness of a Johnnie Cochran, but for every rationale the humans come up with to justify their treatment of animals, a series of charismatic representatives from the animal kingdom counter with persuasive logic. The sharp-witted mule, the patient frog and the wise queen bee build an irrefutable case for their right to be free of suffering and oppression.

On the other hand, the Spirit King feels compelled to find a way to reconcile the creatures' rights with the human need for sustenance.

To this vegetarian reader, the answer seems obvious, but the conclusion of the tale does not go as far as suggesting that we stop eating meat or wearing leather. It does, however, reject the assumption that the rights of humans over other species are absolute and irrevocable.

In his foreword, translator Laytner concedes that this version of the tale is a "highly adapted fraction of the original whole." Certainly the ending seems to have been styled to enhance its relevance to 21st century readers.

But a selection of both Islamic and Jewish sources at book's end demonstrate that the issues addressed in this tale are ages-old spiritual concerns.

There is undeniable power in this message of humility and compassion. "The Animals' Lawsuit Against Humanity" has resonated across continents, cultures, centuries, and faiths. It is heart-wrenching that these basic assertions of decency toward all living things should even remain in question today.

The Bookmonger is Barbara Lloyd McMichael, who writes this weekly column focusing on the books, authors and publishers of the Northwest. Contact her at bkmonger@ nwlink.com.

dBusiness News notes "Animal's"

Ancient Animal Rights Tale Gets a Human Menagerie - Two Rabbis, a Kentucky Sufi, a Christian Editor, a Muslim Artist, a Saudi Arabian Princess

Seattle - SEATTLE -- Two American Rabbis have translated and adapted an ancient Iraqi tale into what is believed to be the first English adaptation -- The Animals' Lawsuit Against Humanity. Rabbi Dan Bridge and Rabbi Anson Laytner put more action into the story, jazzed up the ending, and personified both the animals and the humans. The book grabbed the attention of a Kentucky Sufi Publisher, a Muslim artist and a Saudi Arabian princess. "The animals are portrayed in this story as beings who can think and who are willing to work with humans, but the humans just won't to listen to them," says Rabbi Bridge. "How we treat animals has a direct impact on how we treat one another." After years of searching for a publisher, Rabbi Laytner found Fons Vitae. Virginia Gray Henry, the Director of Fons Vitae, lives in Kentucky and is Sufi. Arabic was the original language of the ancient tale, and was later translated to Hebrew by a medieval Rabbi for a Christian King. The two American Rabbis translated the tale from the Hebrew to its present form. The Kentucky publisher hired a Christian copy editor and found the illustrator, a Pakistani Muslim woman -- the artist Kulsum Begum. Begum's work in this book was financed by a Saudi Arabian princess who wishes to remain anonymous. According to Rabbi Anson Laytner, "The book has an environmental twist, looking not just toward saving the relationship that we have with the animals that we live with, but the relationship we have with the environment -- the land and the earth we live on." "From ancient Iraq to the 21st century, The Animals' Lawsuit Against Humanity is an incredible multi-faith collaboration -- a triumph for the collective human spirit," says Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Professor of Islamic Studies at George Washington University, "The cooperation of representatives from all the religions of the Abrahamic family ... is to be congratulated." The Animals Lawsuit Against Humanity is available for $14.95 in select bookstores or online at www.fonsvitae.com or www.amazon.com.

Posted on: Friday, September 02, 2005 05:09 AM

An Interview With The Writers

Rabbis Anson Laytner and Dan Bridge

Q.) What is “The Animals’ Lawsuit Against Humanity” about?

DB – The treatment of animals – that is a hot topic these days. You can certainly also extrapolate from that, how we treat one another. The animals are portrayed in this story as [beings] who can think and who are willing to work with human beings, but the human beings just won’t to listen to that and don’t treat them in an ‘I-Thou’ kind of relationship.

The view of some of the human beings is the animals are here to use and to use up. The lesson is that we don’t have the luxury to be able to do that these days.

There is also an environmental twist, looking not just toward saving the relationship and the animals that we live with, but the land and the earth we live on.

Q.) Where does the tale come from?

AL -- In actuality the antecedents of the story are Indian but the first written version of the story was penned by members of the Order of Pure Brethren,” a Sufi order in the environs of Basra, Iraq sometime in the 10^th century of the Common Era. In their version it was the 25^th of 51 letters which described the mysteries and meanings of life.

This one story was translated [into Hebrew] and adapted by Rabbi Kalonymus ben Kalonymus at the request of King Charles of Anjou in 1316 C.E. The story was popular in European Jewish communities into the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries.

Q.) How did this all come about?

DB – This started out not as a project to publish a book, it started out as two rabbis studying together and going back and forth about the translations and how the Hebrew would apply here, what the colloquial expressions would be today. To be able to see it illustrated and on the shelf is, to me, very exciting.

It began probably nine years ago when Anson and I were looking to do some studying together. We were looking for some texts, just to work on Hebrew, to read and to translate. He’d found this small volume in the Hebrew Union College library in Cincinnati [more than 10 years earlier]. We started looking at it and it was an interesting premise, so we said, ‘Why don’t we work on this?’ We got together every week and we translated the book and that’s how it got started.

Q.) How does the current version differ from the original?

DB – The book, in its original form, categorizes people and it categorizes animals, and uses broad generalizations to describe both. The story as it was presented in the 10^th century wasn’t a very acceptable version, so we started talking about ways of dealing with it and he did some writing, and came up with a different ending as well.

AL – We tried to put as much action into a story that is basically talking characters as we could, and also jazzed up the ending.

The original story said, ‘The pig got up and spoke,’ or ‘the donkey got up and spoke.’ We changed that so that both the animals and the people had names because we felt that would give a little more of an appeal, that would allow the reader to identify more with the characters. That was an important change.

It was very stilted language, lots of unusual words – so much so that when we would get stuck, I would show it to an Israeli friend, who is obviously fluent in Hebrew, and he would read it and he would go, “Oh, I don’t understand what they are trying to say.” In this revised version, we tried very hard to keep the flavor of the original. Even so we got rid of a lot of repetitions that were there. This is sort of medieval language light. We wanted to take this kernel of the story and make it living and vital and current.

Q.) Why did you rewrite the ending?

AL – Just based on the strength of the case, the animals should have won but, obviously they couldn’t have won because things in this world are what they are, so we had to come up with something else.

The original story ends almost anti-climactically. You’ve got this whole long story – build-up, build-up, build-up, then – “Oh, yes. What was the king’s verdict? The king said, ‘Things should remain what they are, but behave nicer.’” We gave the king a speech and we gave him admonishments or warnings to give to the people, so their descendants would know if they’d gone back on their word. We had the king stand up and had him make a speech, then put some oomph into his message about “behave better’ or there’s going to be problems.

Q.) Is this the first English translation of the tale?

AL – The story has existed in various forms. There isn’t, as far as we know, another translation of the Hebrew story. [There is a 19^th century] translation of the Arabic tale, which is, I think, somewhat different from what we worked on. We’re talking about a story that has existed in a Hebrew version and an Arabic version.

We assume that the rabbi who translated it form Arabic to Hebrew took out al the Koranic references and put in Biblical ones. I don’t know whether the Arabic story has them appearing in front of the King of the Djinn or some other character.

Q.) How did you get it published by Fons Vitae?

DB – The process began with working with an agent and looking for publishers. Anson found this publisher who lives in Kentucky and is Sufi. She read the book and liked it quite a bit. She found the illustrator, who is Pakistani and the person to finance the illustrator, who is a Saudi princess. That’s how it came about, it was looking for the right match.

AL – We had, for a couple of years, a wonderful agent. She tried her best to interest a major publisher in it. She didn’t have much luck because they could not envision the right market for it – is it a kid’s story; is it an adult fable? They didn’t know what to do with it.

A friend of mine locally, a local teacher and author herself, said, ‘Anson, why don’t you try this publisher because they do a lot of Arabic translations and interfaith stuff.’ So I sent off my letter of inquiry and they said they were interested in reading it, then said they were interested in it, period.

It’s really a collective endeavor – an Arabic Sufi tale that was translated by a rabbi into Hebrew in the Middle Ages and was translated by us, with a Sufi publisher and a Pakistani Muslim artist. Matthew Kauffman, is the editor, he did some of the color and took some of the cumbersome language and made it less cumbersome. Matthew Kaufman is, I think, some kind of Christian Protestant. It’s just interesting that we all came together.

Q.) Who do you think will read it?

DB – How the book is marketed and what audiences will respond to it is where we’re at now that the book has been published. It seems as though the audience will go from intermediate school age through adult.

The lessons are certainly lessons that we would love children to be able to grow up learning, so getting into the hands of children of junior high age would be a wonderful thing. But also, just as adults deal with fables and learn lessons from them, it would be wonderful for adults to read it, too.

AL – I really see multiple audiences. It appeals to animal lovers and maybe to environmentalists of a sort. It appeals to interfaith audiences who are looking for stories that transcend our religious communities. Obviously I think it would appeal to a Jewish audience who would like to read a story that helps them connect to their tradition and maybe, opens doors to new ways of thinking that they may never have had before. And kids, because I do think that it would make a very wonderful older children’s story. In thinking ‘kids’ I was always thinking middle school and up.