Dogs In the Eyes Of the Religion Of Peace
No animal in the world could give so much love, loyalty and happiness to man except for a dog. As the saying goes, a dog, indeed, is a man’s best friend.
Even the famous English writer Samuel Butler would go as far as to say this about a dog: “The great pleasure of a dog is that you make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself too.”
Henry Ward Beecher, an American Congressionalist clergyman and a social reformer known for his support of the abolition of slavery, also has this to say about a dog: “The dog was created specially for children. He is a god of frolic.”
All around, there are certainly great fascinations with dogs. Dogs have been very useful everywhere not just for hunting, herding and guarding, but also for companionship. Dogs are even helpful in assisting blind people go their way.
But I came across an article from Huffington Post written by Ingrid Mattson in the year 2011 about a Muslim couple not allowing a dog to live in their house. The link of the article is listed below.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ingrid-mattson/whats-up-with-muslims-and_b_1144819.html
According to the article, the writer watched an episode of a TV reality series “All-American Muslim”, where the Arab American bride tells her Irish-American convert husband that she does not want his dog to move in with them. According to the Muslim bride, her father will not pray in the house if the dog is there because dog hair is impure and a prayer space needs to be pure. The article then goes on to say that some Muslims object to having dogs in the house because of some prophetic report that angels do not enter a house with dogs in it. But the author contradicted that by citing a passage from the Qur’an, one of the Islamic scriptures, which allows men to be accompanied by dogs. Qur’an (18:18) says:
“And you might think them awake while they were asleep, and we turned them about to the right and to the left, while their dog lay outstretching its paws at the entrance.”
That passage of the Qur’an makes it clear that a dog is good company for Islamic believers. Or does it? What about this prophetic report from some Muslims about angels not entering a house with dogs in it?
Aside from the Qur’an, there are other sources of Islamic laws. Such sources are called hadiths. Hadiths are various reports describing the words, actions or habits of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and are also used in developing Islamic jurisprudence.
One of the hadiths that Islamic authorities use to make Islamic laws is the Sahih Muslim. Sahih Muslim contains a number of passages which deal with dogs. Let us look up a report in that hadith about an angel not entering a house with a dog in it:
Sahih Muslim [5511]
It was narrated that 'Aishah said: "JibrIl (Angel Gabriel), promised to come to the Messenger of Allah at a certain hour, and that time came but he did not arrive. He (the Messenger) had a stick in his hand which he threw down and said: 'Allah does not break His promise, and neither do His Messengers.' Then he turned and saw a puppy beneath a bed. He said: '0 'Aishah, when did this dog get in here?' She said: 'By Allah, I do not know.' He ordered that it be taken out, and JibrIl , came. The Messenger of Allah said: 'You made an appointment with me and I waited for you but you did not come.' He said: 'I was prevented by the dog that was in your house. We do not enter a house in which there is a dog or an image”’
There it is, a report from a hadith about Angel Gabriel not being able to meet with Muhammad in his house because his house has a dog inside it. There are more passages regarding dogs from this hadith:
Sahih Muslim [4016]
It was narrated from Ibn 'Umar that the Messenger of Allah ordered that dogs be killed.
So now Muhammad was clear about how to deal with dogs. But was this commandment of Muhammad infallible?
Sahih Muslim [4021]
It was narrated that Ibn al-Mughaffal said: "The Messenger of Allah enjoined the killing of dogs, then he said: 'What is the problem with them and dogs?' Then he granted a concession with regard to dogs for hunting and herding sheep."
So Muhammad did compromised as to which dogs should be killed. It is clear that dogs that are not useful for hunting or herding sheeps are the ones that should be killed, according to the hadith.
In the book Dorling Kindersley Handbook - Dogs, dogs are basically categorized into the following functions: companion dogs, herding dogs, gun dogs, hounds, terriers and working dogs. Among these categories of dogs, those that are used for hunting and herding are the gun dogs, hounds and herding dogs.
Working dogs have specialized functions such as seeing for the blind, hearing for the deaf, rescuing the injured, and transporting man and his cargo across Arctic terrain. Unless these dogs are to be used for hunting and herding sheep because of their big size, they are in danger of being slaughtered according to the hadith.
Terriers are small in size so they are seldom used for hunting or herding sheep. But according the DK Dog book, they are useful for hunting rats. So that leaves behind the companion dogs.
Companion dogs were never used for hunting or herding. They are bred specially as pets. That means these dogs are in danger of being slaughtered according to the hadith. Dogs like Bulldog, Cavalier King Charles, Kyi Leo, Toy American Eskimo, King Charles Spaniel, Chihuahua, Mexican Hairless, Inca Hairless Dog, Havanese, Giant German Spitz, German Spitz Mittel, German Spitz Klein, Pomeranian, Phalene, Papillon, Poodle, Lowchen, Bolognese, Volpino Italiano, Pekingese, Pug, Chinese Crested Dog, Tibetan Spaniel, Tibetan Terrier, Lhasa Apso, Japanese Chin, Japanese Spitz, Maltese, Bichon Frise, Basenji, Coton De Tulear, and finally the one very close to my heart as my lovely pet Pepita belongs in this breed, Shih Tzu, are not allowed to exist according to the hadith.
But my pet Pepita’s existence is more in danger as Muhammad made a specific description of the most forbidden dog of all:
Sahih Muslim [4020]
Jâbir bin 'Abdullâh said: "The Messengerof Allah ç ordered us to kill dogs, and even if a woman came from the desert with her dog, we would kill it. Then the Prophet forbade killing them, and said: 'You should kill the dark black (dog) with two (white) spots (above its eyes), for it is a devil."
Pepita’s description resembles so closely that dog that is forbidden the most. She is not a hunting dog or a herding dog. She is black with one white spot above her eyes. One more white spot above her eyes and she would have been the devil according to Muhammad.
Finally, I will conclude this article by quoting David Wood, a staunch critic of Islam, whose video blogs were my inspiration for writing this article:
“For centuries, dogs had been described as man’s best friend. Not surprisingly, the prophet who commanded his followers to slaughter men also commanded them to slaughter man’s best friend.”
By Roderick Tubil
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