MAN'S BEST FRIEND AND ISLAM

Man's best friend - a title mankind accorded to the furry, four-legged, panting and wagging tail wolves' descendants. Dogs.

Mankind domesticated animals and dogs are undoubtedly takes the crown for being the closest to humans.

But, in Islam, it is otherwise - dogs are viewed with contempt and disgust by Muslims predominantly.

Malaysia's official religion is Islam and non Muslims there go out of their way to acknowledge this status quo, including the sensitivity Muslims have for pooches; but not all Muslims in Malaysia are averse of dogs as I have experienced.

My Civic Studies teacher, she was a Chinese, a Malaysian of Chinese ethnicity to be precise, gave me a Spitz male puppy on the last day of me graduating out of high school.

I carried the puppy in my hands and while waiting for the school bus to arrive to take me and the new addition of my family home, my Muslim Malay friend beckoned to me discreetly and when I approached her, she took me behind a pay phone booth which was pretty secluded. After that, she took the puppy from my hands and began to pat him and carry him and rub his button, wet nose on hers. I was flabbergasted and asked her isn't touching dogs haram (forbidden in Islam) in Islam. She said, "No it's not, as long as the dog is dry but I don't really care about the details. I love dogs," she gushed as she continued to play with the fluffy puppy. I then asked her if it is acceptable for Muslims to handle dogs, why did she need to do it furtively and she admitted that if other Muslims see her petting a dog, they will condemn the act.

Before my friend's gesture, I seriously thought that all Muslims detest dogs on the grounds that they are 'unclean' or 'filthy' - the Islam's perspective of pigs.

Then another incident that caused a brouhaha in Muslim majority Malaysia transpired during Eid al Fitr. It was caused by a YouTube video which shows a Malay Muslim female dog trainer cleaning and feeding her dogs with Eid goodies in the backdrop of the Eid call ordering Muslims to pray. The video carries the message of let's celebrate Eid irrespective of species. It caused an outrage and the dog trainer was arrested.

After that episode passed, the story of a Muslim couple who had been taking care of more than 400 stray dogs since 1990 came to the media's spotlight which evoked both accolades and condemnation in multiracial and multi-religious Malaysia.

In Islam, it is expounded that Allah created every creature on Earth and that He loves all of his creations. But why did dogs and pigs fall short in the list is a puzzle for many - some Muslims make it a point to loathe dogs with all the disgust they can muster.

The puppy I brought home grew up and he was the constant target of our Muslim neighbor - he'd slap his thighs in bravado and hurl stones at my pet dog. Milo (my dog's name) would really get furious by the man's antics, the fur on his back getting erect like a porcupine, him lunging from my protective grasp. I hated that man as much as Milo did because we were minding our own business and the man interfered with our peace.

Apart from some Muslims declaring that  dogs are dirty, they also proclaim that angels would never enter a house with a dog, black dogs are evil, and Allah will penalize you for owning a dog. 

There is nowhere in Quran where it states that dogs are not meant to be touched or handled; in fact, negativity towards dogs contradicts directly with Quranic verses. This hatred towards dogs, pigs and women in Islam lies in the Quran's exegesis - the hadiths. While the Quran is considered to be the word of Allah, hadiths are regarded as the word of Muhammad and they were penned hundreds of years after Muhammad's demise.

The specific hadiths narrated by Abu Hurayra who hated dogs and women voiced many hadiths that demonized dogs, pigs and cursed women - such hadiths from Abu Hurayra postulate that dogs are undesirable and that they need to be avoided and in other hadiths, killed. A small number of Muslims consider the hadiths are corrupted because nowhere in the Quran say that dogs are haram and among them one may find dog lovers like my friend above. That is the distinction and while the Quran seems to discourage violence, many hadiths are violent in nature.

In Suri 18 of the Quran, it tells us a story about a group of men in a cave with a dog. In this story it says that angels entered the cave. Yet, in the hadith about dogs it clearly states that angels will never enter a place where a dog is inside. If Quran is considered to be the actual word of Allah, only conclusion to be made here is that certain hadiths are simply based on the prejudice of some Muslim scholars.

Dogs are wonderful creatures - they help the blind see, facilitate the movements of disabled persons, catch criminals, sniff up drugs and people alive trapped in rubble and most of all love unconditionally. Your dog will never hesitate to risk her or his life to save yours. There is absolutely no reason for anyone to hate dogs - religious indoctrination or otherwise.

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