When doing my A Levels in the UK, I used to take my neighbour’s dogs for walkies. I even pat them. My fellow Malaysian Malay Muslims would cringe and ask if I am a Muslim.
Dogs are being labeled as najasah (dirty impurity) by Muslims who take the words of so-called scholars (Ulama’) as something inscribed in stone, without once refering to what God has said in the al-Quran about dogs. The fact is God reated every living thing on this earth as belonging to an ummah (community). So human beings, cats, dogs, pigs are all of one community that was created to be subservient to the One God. There is no distinction between these creatures as to whether a pig is more pure than a human being, or if a cat is better than a dog. The fact is, dogs have been mentioned in the al-Quran several times…5 times if I read correctly.
The concept of a dog being dirty came about with false hadiths claiming that the Prophet (pbuh) ordered the killing of dogs and that dogs can only be kept for the purpose of guarding and hunting, due to their dirty status. If Muslims are able to read the Quran, then such hadith should be decreed as lies fabricated to ridicule the Prophet (pbuh).
God tells us in the Quran about the story of the dwellers of the Cave (Surah 18)……in verse 13 God tells us that they were good believers and that God guided them. In verse 18 God tells us that they had their dog with them. Now if dogs are prohibited and dirty, would God speak of those dwellers of the Cave (who had a dog) as good believers?
In 5:4 God tells us that it is OK to eat what the trained dogs catch (dogs are used in hunting)……….if dogs are dirty would God say that it is OK to eat what they catch with their mouths.In 5:4, God said:
“They consult you concerning what is lawful for them; say, Lawful for you are all good things, including what trained dogs and falcons catch for you. You train them according God’s teachings. You may eat what they catch for you, and mention God’s name thereupon. You shall observe God. God is most efficient in reckoning.”
Islam is a way of life. It is when it is being given the brand of a religion that its followers have gone bonkers and come up with lots of ridiculous hogwash taboos. Imagine this: in the Shafie school of thoughts, a dog is impure and therefore anything that it touchs requires a massive cleaning operation that is 6 times with water and one time with dust/clay-water. Now…if the Arabs have hunting dogs and a dog retrieves a bird that has been shot, imagine what clay-water would do to the taste of the bird. According to Imam Malik‘s school of thoughts, a dog is not impure. You can touch it, you can hug it, it will not affect your wudu’ (ablution).
So whose Islam is right? Malik’s or Shafie’s? Don’t we all pray to the same God? And what did God say about who is a Muslim? Isn’t it about abiding to the five pillars of Islam (Rukun Islam)? And what about the six pillars of Faith (Rukun Iman)? What do they say?
The first is to believe in God’s Lordship,Oneness (Entity concept) and Attributes; second is to believe in His Angels; third is to believe in His books (the al-Quran, the Bible, the Torah and Zabur (Psalms of David); fourth is to believe in all His Messengers…25 main ones in all; fifth is to believe in the Day of Resurrection; and lastly, to believe in Fate and Divine Decree.
But as “believers” we chose not to believe in His books; what we choose to believe instead is in the sayings and writings of certain scholars whom have intepreted the Quran and hadith according to their own whims and fancies.
Back to dogs, one laughable taboo is the dog is so impure that if you were to allow dogs in your home, the Angels wouldn’t enter your house to bless it..much like garlic is to Count Dracula, or cats to Imhotep, the Mummy. But to my surprise, one Angel seems to have some kind of immunity towards dogs and still enters the home of believers and non-believers alike to take away their life.
Because we, the Muslims, have rejected God’s Quran, therefore we live in obscurity and backwardness. And we blow people up, treat women like slaves, and tell people how great we are.
SeaDemon Says 
one question, which School of thoughts permits touching dogs with dry skin? and how concrete is that?
I don’t know much about dogs in Islam but what I know is that there is an Islamic body in Malaysia that does the decisionmaking in terms of the dos and don’ts for the Muslims here. I know that we have to follow the Syafie school of thought over here but there are some flexibilities for instance, we may follow the Hanafie school of thought when in Mecca for example for the act of Tawaf, with a lot of people, we tend to rub against each other and here, they need not carry out another ablution/wuduq. And I think even in the Shafie, we are allowed to use dogs for hunting and may eat what they catch for the simple reason that they are the only animal that can live with humans and hunt for us. Oh well, a reference to the experts is needed. Can’t say much when I’m no expert. Dangerously wrong to think without basis and a few experts around. And I do agree that all animals deserve respect and good treatment; dogs or pigs.
There is one thing that i do not believe in: the school of thoughts. While there are some good guidelines that I can use, as Diverdel has pointed out, we take the prescriptions by these schools of thoughts as something that MUST be done, and to go against is sinful.
First and foremost, who rightfully can say whether or not such and such an act is a sin? Who dishes out rewards for good deeds and punishments for bad deeds? Only the Almighty has that power.
Shawn, there is nowhere in the al-Quran that says you cannot touch a dog. There are FIVE prescribed findings by these schools of thoughts: 1) you cannot touch at all; 2) you can touch only when it’s dry; 3) you cannot touch unless its nose and tongue are dry; and some others I cannot remember. Even amongst the scholars they are divided over this. But which NAS or DALIL did they use to come up with these guidelines when the Quran says nothing about it? Even the hadith used are DAIF (weak) and some PALSU (false). The only school of thought that goes back to the Quran on this is Maliki as mentioned above.
Diverdel’s point on having to follow strictly to Imam Shafie’s teachings here in Malaysia is something that is actually a cause for alarm. Muslims in Malaysia cannot understand that it is just an intepretation by Shafie…therefore whether you follow it or not has nothing to do with sins and rewards. Shafie says he’s right; Hanafie says he’s right…but why do we need to do the act of adopting another mazhab as mentioned about the Tawaf above? Back in England, I have seen followers of Shafie and Hanafie and Hanbalie whack each other in a mosque because the imam for the Aidil Fitri prayers is a Hanafie. If there is a Shiah here in Malaysia performing rites according to Shiah’s traditions, he can be jailed! In Iraq, such strict followings are causing thousands of innocent Muslims lives lost annually – and all because of schools of thoughts.
Aren’t we all praying to the same God? If we uphold the Six Pillars of Faith and believe in it without a single shadow of doubt, why are we taking teachings prescribed by scholars as “our way of life and no two ways about it”? We read the books they write and subscribe to it strictly..but when it comes to the Quran that we’re supposed to be guided by and with, we question its contents and ask what the scholars thought about what God has decreed.
Very interesting topic that you choose this time and very likely to result in hate mails from kneejerkers and perhaps a fatwa or two. Personally and honestly, I have never made comments on politics and religion as it is quite pointless to do so when the minds of many people are shut to any discussions.
I like to break this rule once and for the first time here. However, I should read part 2 first, think with “A CLEAR MIND” and break my rule there.
P.S. The Dato’s ship is drifting further away. :p
there are things the school of thought can contribute, but not as absolute truth. We as human can only bring people with thoughts closer to the truth, but not the truth itself…
Say Leng, throw a 5 sen coin in Melaka and chances are you’ll hit a Dato’ š
it is intresting to know that nuthing being mentioned bout dogs in the holy Quran…somehow i think someone must have mentioned it somewhere, otherwise there wont be such thing as haram to touch a dog…
Mocha, nope..no such thing in the Quran. Just some scholars a thousand years ago who came out with a false hadith and stuck to it. Nothing in the Quran says a dog is dirty or impure.
Nothing wrong as a Muslim to keep a Dog in my opinion.In fact my Muslim neighbor next door has 2 huge ones, I see him walking it, caring for it, in return they protect the neighborhood too. But then again we live in Bangsar donĆ¢ā¬ā¢t know if malay neighborhoods are acceptable to the idea. I personally think as long as a Muslim abides by the rules of handling a dog, and the dog doesnt cause problems, itĆ¢ā¬ā¢s not an issue.
it has been a while since i visited here last. bro, this is a good entry. can i copy this and paste it in my blog later?
Can.