We recently did an article by a woman who lived in a Muslim country (can’t recall which one, offhand) and adopted a stray dog. When she went walking it, people on the street threw stones at her.
Of course, she was an American woman not wearing a burqa, so it’s debtable who they were aiming at!
So it’s still ok to have a pet dog if you’re Muslim if it lives outside (I live in a warm climate, so no animal welfare rants please) or if it’s a working dog (eg guide dog)?
I presume she must have been either ni the Gulf where the chador is common or in Afghanistan or Pakistan as elsewhere one does not see the burqa.
On Muslims owning dogs, I know plenty that do here in the region, although I can not recall any except the Westernized elite that keep them as house pets. Dogs are simply not popular per se. This by the way extends to Xians in my experience, although likely due to cross-polination of majority muslim attitudes.
Just wanted to note that the prohibition is not unanimous.
There’s a professor of Islamic law at UCLA, Khaled Abou El Fadl, who has studied the source texts and found that there is no basis for prohibiting dogs as pets. It’s one of those things that got somehow incorporated into Islamic law over the years, but there was no such prohibition originally. This means that the rulings prohibiting dogs as pets are probably invalidated.
There’s a saying: “There’s a fatwa (religious decree) for and against everything.”
Most Muslims follow what their culture dictates. If they need support, they can find ample support from clerics of their culture. Like Judaism, Islam (at least Sunni and most of Shi’a Islam) is legalistic. Muslim law and jurispudence is called fiqh and is a crucial area of intellectual and legalistic activity - there are long treatises on the minutiae of mechanics of eating halal, praying, fasting, and just about any activity or object under the sun. Example: there’s a very well argued fatwa stating that men with at least a certain length of beard will go to Heaven. (I’ll have to find it, but I can is anyone’s interested.) I’m sure there are fatwas against dogs and fatwas in favor of dogs.
Thing is, fiqh plays a major role in what people do, think, and believe.
The reason I bring this up is because the argument, “argument X is unfounded,” almost always falls on deaf ears. Actually, I’m wrong - the opposite is true. Such arguments usually lead to what I like call a war of hadith - two sides flinging fatwas, hadith (sayings of Hazrat Muhammad (sa)), and ayaat (verses from the Qur’an) at each other. Very entertaining, but in the end futile.
WRS
So, WeRSauron, what is the conclusion? You seem to be saying that there is no conclusion.
I’m familiar with (pbuh), but I’ve sever seen (sa) before. What’s it mean?
There is no conclusion. To iterate what Hazir Imam Mowlana Shah Karim Agha Khan* once said, the Muslim world is very diverse and divided. The image of the Muslim world as a monolithic entity is false.
Not only is there a diversity in cultures, languages, and races, but also a great variety in fiqh, practice, and beliefs. Thus, one cannot say, “Thus and thus it is.”
Example: what is the shahadah (declaration of belief) of Islam? According to many, it’s “La ilaha il Allahu, Muhammadur rasul Allahi” (“There is no god but God, and Muhammad is God’s messenger”). Shi’as say it’s “La ilaha il Allahu, Muhammadur rasul Allahi, Alyun amirul mu’minin” (the last part meaning, “Ali is the commander of the faithful”). Then there are those who say it’s only, “La ilaha il Allahu.”
And now for something different.
“SA” stands for “salallahu alaihi wassallam,” which means, basically, “may the peace and blessings of God be upon him.” This is only used after saying Muhammad (SA)'s name. The English for this is “PBUH” or “peace be upon him.” Many Shi’as will write “PBUH&HF,” meaning, “peace be upon him and his family.”
Two other oft-used abbreviations are:
“AS” - “alaihi salam,” “may peace be upon him.” This is said after stating the name of revered deceased figure, such as one of the rightly guided caliphs (if one is Sunni), an imam, etc.
“RA” - “razi Allah (ta’la) anhu/anha,” “may (Almighty) God be pleased with him/her.” Said after stating the name of someone good and pious but not “high” enough on the spiritual ladder, so to speak, to merit a “AS.”
*Hazir Imam - present or current Imam. Imam here meant to signify the solitary leader of the Muslims and all the world’s peoples, upon whom rests the light and grace of God. There is a belief among some Shi’as that if one dies without knowing and/or acknowledging the current Imam of the time-period, he/she cannot enter Heaven. Now, who is the current Imam? Could be one of many people. For many Shi’as, it’s Imam Mahdi, who is in occultation (seclusion, hiding). For other Shi’as, it could be their person claiming to be the Imam.
Mowlana - honorific title, meaning “our master”
His Highness Shah Karim Agha Khan IV - fourth Agha Khan (title bestowed by the Shah of Iran, style bestowed by the British monarchy) and forty-ninth Imam of the Shi’a Imami Ismaili Muslims. For the Ismailis, the current Imam is Hazir Imam Mowlana Shah Karim.
WRS
Just to pick up some thing Phraser mentioned : do Muslim countries - have ‘working dogs’ such as Guide Dogs for the Blind, Hearing Dogs for the Deaf, Dogs trained to sniff out drugs, expolsives etc. ??